The Crown's creator Peter Morgan has opened up about his decision to end the show after five seasons. Although the popular Netflix series was initially thought to run for six seasons up to the modern day, Peter released a statement which read: "At the outset I had imagined The Crown running for six seasons... Now that we have begun work on the stories for season five, it has become clear to me that this is the perfect time and place to stop. I'm grateful to Netflix and Sony for supporting me in this decision."
The Crown will finish after five seasons
He previously admitted to Entertainment Weekly that he wouldn't want to have brought the show to modern day, explaining: "I feel uncomfortable writing about events within a certain time period. I think there's a certain amount of time within which, if you write about it, what you do instantly becomes journalistic because it's too close to the moment. If you wait a certain amount of time, if you allow fifteen or twenty years, basically a generation, between you and [the events] then you can write about it somewhat freely as drama."
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Imelda will be playing the Queen in the fifth and final season
Producer Susie Mackie recently suggested that the series wouldn't go to present day, telling the BBC: "I think we'll probably…we won’t travel to the present day. To be honest, whatever the life of The Crown is after where we are now, I doubt we'll ever go as far into the present day."
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The show revealed the Imelda Staunton would be taking over from Olivia Colman in the fifth and final series in a statement which read: "I have loved watching The Crown from the very start. As an actor it was a joy to see how both Claire Foy and Olivia Colman brought something special and unique to Peter Morgan's scripts. I am genuinely honoured to be joining such an exceptional creative team and to be taking The Crown to its conclusion."