Season five will be The Crown’s last season with Imelda Staunton set to portray Queen Elizabeth II.
News of the casting, as well as the show’s official season count, was annoyed by Peter Morgan in a statement Friday.
“I’m absolutely thrilled to confirm Imelda Staunton as Her Majesty The Queen for the fifth and final season, taking The Crown into the 21st Century. Imelda is an astonishing talent and will be a fantastic successor to Claire Foy and Olivia Colman,” Morgan said. “At the outset I had imagined The Crown running for six seasons but 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.”
“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 honored to be joining such an exceptional creative team and to be taking The Crown to its conclusion,” Staunton said in a statement.
Season four of The Crown is said to track the 1980s, yet it is not clear what period the fifth—and now final—season will cover.
The Crown seasons one-three are currently streaming on Netflix.