The Crown Season 5 Won't Air Until 2022 Due to Extended Filming Break

The past few months have been a bit of a roller-coaster for The Crown, one of Netflix's most popular original series. It was announced in January that the upcoming fifth season would be its last, with actress Imelda Staunton taking over the role of Queen Elizabeth, replacing Season 4's Olivia Colman. The decision to end with Season 5 was made by creator Peter Morgan, who announced in July that he had reversed his decision, and would end in Season 6 instead. Fans are certainly excited to be getting more episodes of The Crown, but it will be quite a while before those last two seasons arrive.

According to Deadline, The Crown Season 5 won't be hitting Netflix until 2022 at the earliest. The reason behind this delay is a break in production ahead of the new casting changes, which will keep the show from filming new episodes until 2021. This delay reportedly has nothing to do with the pandemic and was already scheduled before any shutdowns took place.

This delay isn't anything new to The Crown, as the series took a similar hiatus last time the role of Queen Elizabeth was passed from one actress to another. There was a two-year gap between Season 2 and 3, when Claire Foy handed off the role to Olivia Colman.

The fourth season of The Crown had already completed production when the coronavirus shutdowns began, so it's still on track to be released on Netflix sometime in 2020. This season will take the story through 1990 and features Gillian Anderson as Margaret Thatcher. Emma Corrin will portray Princess Diana in the new season, with Josh O'Connor playing Prince Charles.

As far as Season 5 goes, the streamer has plans to announce more casting information over the coming months. What we know so far is that Staunton will take on the role of Queen Elizabeth, while Lesley Manville will be portraying Princess Margaret.

"I have loved watching The Crown from the very start," Staunton said when her casting was announced. "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."

Are you looking forward to the final seasons of The Crown? Let us know in the comments!