Princess Diana's fatal car crash will not be explicitly depicted in The Crown season 6. The Crown is a historical drama series that follows real events in the lives of the British royal family during Queen Elizabeth II's reign. The series began in 2016, with season 1 taking place from 1947 to 1955, and each subsequent season following another set of decades. The Crown season 5 is scheduled to premiere on November 9, and season 6 - the final in the series - is currently in production. Over its first four seasons, The Crown has received a total of 63 Emmy Award nominations, with 21 wins.
While the first several seasons of The Crown were set in decades long-past, more recent seasons have been catching up to the present day. The Crown season 4 ended in the early 1990s, with the season covering events such as Prince Charles meeting and marrying Diana Spencer and Margaret Thatcher's time as Prime Minister. While there has always been plenty of drama and turmoil in the House of Windsor for The Crown to draw from, there have been concerns with the series adapting more recent events. Since 2016, there have been those who view The Crown as exploitative, as the show follows intimate and tragic events that happened to real people, many of whom are still alive. Most recently, there has been backlash against The Crown season 5, which will include a storyline that sees Prince Charles - now King Charles III, following Queen Elizabeth II's death last month - confiding in former Prime Minister John Major that he has waited far too long to become King. However, it isn't Charles that most fans are concerned with insensitively depicting.
In a report from Deadline, it has been revealed that The Crown will not be depicting Princess Diana's fatal car accident. Both cast and crew of The Crown have acknowledged that covering Diana's death will be a sensitive topic, and it has ultimately been decided that the car crash itself will not be shown in the series. However, the events leading up to the crash, and the fallout from it will be seen. Read a production insider's comment below:
“We’ve been dreading getting to this point. The countdown is two weeks and while we’re calmly carrying on it’s fair to acknowledge that there’s a certain anxiety; a palpable sense of being slightly on edge. I mean, there’s bombshell sensitivity surrounding this one... It’s the run-up: the car leaving The Ritz after midnight with paparazzi in pursuit and then the aftermath with the British Ambassador to swinging into action with the Foreign Office and then the subsequent constitutional aftermath."
The Controversy Around The Crown Season 5 Explained
While there have been other adaptations of the struggles in the royal family, such as the 2021 film Spencer, The Crown has already garnered controversy over the years, particularly from the British. Recently, Dame Judi Dench spoke out against the series, calling it "an inaccurate and hurtful of history," and calling for a disclaimer at the start of the show that states the series is a "fictionalized drama." Many have considered The Crown to be an unflattering and outright harmful depiction of the royal family, while others insist that the series shows the real, unpolished, messy side of the monarchy.
Though there has always been drama in the royal family, there have been many infamous moments in the House of Windsor since the 1990s. The Crown season 5 is set to show events like Charles and Diana's tumultuous relationship, which includes Charles cheating on Diana with Camilla Parker Bowles, Diana's mental health struggles, and how their difficulties affect their children, Princes William and Harry. While Diana ed away in 1997, the now King Charles III and his sons are still very much alive, and there has been concern over tactfully handling the events of the 1990s in The Crown - however, by cutting Diana's fatal car accident from the series, there is hope that this will avoid some of the show's potential controversy.
Source: Deadline