The Crown, the historical drama series about the most famous royal house, has reached its 5th season.

So far, we’ve followed Queen Elizabeth II’s rise to the throne and the political and personal tensions she had to deal with. The first two seasons revolve around Queen Elizabeth’s marriage to Prince Philip, while seasons 3 and 4 focus on her son, Charles, and the love triangle between him, Princess Diana and Camilla.

Season 5 takes us back to the 90s; in Europe, the Soviet Union is falling apart, and in Great Britain, the monarchy is shaken by another event, albeit different: the scandalous divorce between Prince Charles and Princess Diana. Moreover, there is talk among the people that Charles should be king instead of the aging queen.

The lead cast consists of Imelda Staunton (Queen Elizabeth), Jonathan Pryce (Prince Philip), Dominic West (Prince Charles), Elizabeth Debicki (Princess Diana), Olivia Williams (Camilla Parker-Bowles), Jonny Lee Miller (Prime Minister John Major), Lesley Manville (Princess Margaret), Claudia Harrison (Princess Anne) and James Murray (Prince Andrew).

Once again, The Crown continues to impress with its exceptional sets and costumes, which meet the specificity of the depicted historical moments. More than 2000 artists worked on the production design. According to the actors present at the press conference held in support of season 5, The Crown benefits from “excellence on all levels”.

In terms of research, actors are given access to countless archival documents, which help them better understand the person behind the public persona. “For me, the most important part of the research was the snippets of footage that never made the news, small moments that capture authenticity.” (Imelda Staunton)

For Jonny Lee Miller, who plays Prime Minister John Major, the role gave him the opportunity to better understand his character. “The more I learned about him, the more I began to like him and we had a lot of similarities. My respect for him grew massively,” said the actor.

Playing real people as famous as the British royal family is no easy task. Elizabeth Debicki steps into the iconic shoes of Princess Diana this season. The actress spoke at the conference about the huge pressure she felt and the enormous responsibility that comes with playing a figure people are so attached to: “It took me some time to understand that you’re bringing your interpretation to Peter’s [Morgan, the show creator] interpretation of this person. But then the people watching the show come […] with such attachment and memory and a sense of ownership, too, over these characters.”

Imelda Staunton (Queen Elizabeth II), on the other hand, spoke about the difficulty of playing such a restrained character, whose position required her to suppress and internalize her emotions.

Dominic West (Prince Charles) hopes the series will put things into perspective and everyone gets a fair hearing because it was a divorce and there are always two sides in a divorce and both deserve to be heard. “Inevitably you take the side of the character you’re playing.”

The death of Queen Elizabeth II has definitely had an impact on the new season. Asked how they think this event will affect the series, the actors believe that the public will be even more eager to watch such a production, which gives them the chance to see this remarkable person, destined to become a leader from a young age, embodied again.

The Crown is now available on Netflix.

Melissa Antonescu

Writer, photographer and videographer. For Films in Frame she writes news about the latest happenings in the film world and brings to the readers' attention the productions that can be seen at the cinema. When she's not writing articles, she's photographing people in a small studio or searching for new cake recipes.