It’s time to pour yourself a cup of tea and head back to Buckingham Palace because The Crown season 6 is now on Netflix. Good thing, too, since the dramatic retelling of Queen Elizabeth II’s reign has gripped the public since 2016.
That’s right, The Crown fans, although the hit drama series about the British Royal Family was rumored to end after five installments, one of the best streaming services answered the cries of the people and brought us more opulent arguments and national strife. Safe to say, more episodes of one of the best TV series on Netflix are always welcomed news!
Who’s in The Crown season 6 cast?
The Crown season 6 featured most of the same actors as season 5, but Elizabeth Debicki as Princess Diana pulled focus.
Most notably, in an MCU-style twist, the final season had Claire Foy and Olivia Colman return to reprise their roles of Queen Elizabeth II to pay tribute to the late monarch. The Witcher’s Viola Prettejohn also played a teenage version of the Queen pre-coronation.
Here’s the cast list for The Crown season 6:
- Imelda Staunton as Queen Elizabeth II
- Jonathan Pryce as Prince Philip
- Lesley Manville as Princess Margaret
- Jonny Lee Miller as John Major
- Elizabeth Debicki as Princess Diana
- Dominic West as Prince Charles
- Olivia Williams as Camilla Parker Bowles
- James Murray as Prince Andrew
- Claudia Harrison as Princess Anne
- Bertie Carvel as Tony Blair
- Marcia Warren as Queen Elizabeth
- Khalid Abdalla as Dodi Fayed
- Salim Daw as Mohamed Al-Fayed
- Timothy Dalton as Peter Townsend
- Rufus Kampa as a young Prince William
- Ed McVey as an older Prince William
- Meg Bellamy as Kate Middleton
- Will Powell as a young Prince Harry
- Claire Foy as Queen Elizabeth II
- Olivia Colman as Queen Elizabeth II
- Viola Prettejohn as Young Queen Elizabeth II
The Crown season 6 release date and reviews
The Crown season 6 is being released in two parts, with the first four episodes having come out on Thursday, November 16, 2023, and the remaining six on Thursday, December 14, 2023.
Netflix integrated season splits/breaks for other shows in the past (think Stranger Things 4), so it’s not surprising that they may have wanted to build up as much anticipation for this final season as possible.
While audiences might run to it, critical reception hasn’t been great with reviews generally being lukewarm. At the time of release, it had the worst Rotten Tomatoes score of any season, with 57%. Part of this could be some critics finding the post-humorous poking at Princess Diana’s turbulent life distasteful.
Others, however, felt it was handled with tact. BBC‘s Caryn James wrote, “The most pressing hand-wringers’ concerns amount to nothing. The show is very respectful of the scenes surrounding Diana’s death and its aftermath, with no images of the crash or her body. And yes, she appears after her death and converses with both Charles and the Queen (Imelda Staunton), but those characters are clearly, as Morgan has said, imagining what she might have said to them, a sign of their grief rather than a ghost story.”
What is The Crown season 6 about?
The sixth season of The Crown focuses on the death of Princess Diana and the aftermath.
The Crown season 6 also details the budding relationship between Prince William and Kate Middleton during their time at St. Andrews University, as well as Tony Blair’s years in power as Prime Minister.
Producer Suzanne Mackie previously explained that showrunner Peter Morgan wouldn’t go beyond the early 2000s, so we know the endgame.
Does The Crown season 6 show Diana’s death?
Princess Diana’s death happens off-camera in The Crown season 6. There’s no footage of a mimicked crash or her body.
The death of Princess Diana is one of the most shocking moments in British history, and if you ask anyone from your parents’ or grandparents’ generation, they’ll be able to tell you exactly where they were the moment they heard about it.
However, it’s important real tragedies are not dressed up for entertainment, and as such, season 6 makes the sensible choice to follow a bystander’s perspective instead of following Diana herself with the camera.
Is there a trailer for The Crown season 6?
The season 6 part 1 trailer was released on October 26, 2023. Part 2 will have its own trailer, likely by early December.
The trailer shows Diana slowly suffocating under the pressures of royal life and hints towards her fateful trip to Paris. Watch it for yourself below:
Where can I watch The Crown season 6?
Season 6 of The Crown streams on Netflix exclusively.
The rest of the series lives on the service, too. Don’t forget, The Crown is one of Netflix’s (ahem) crown jewels. For everything else you can watch right now, check out what’s new on Netflix this month.
How many episodes of The Crown season 6 are there?
There are ten episodes in The Crown season 6.
Since each previous season had ten episodes, we doubted season 6 would be any different.
Be sure to check out The Crown season 5 ending explained if you need a recap, and for other great shows, here are our guides to everything we know about House of the Dragon season 2 or The Watcher season 2 release date.
There’s also the best Netflix series and the new movies coming soon to keep you busy.