The Crown was one of the most popular TV shows of recent years, with the critically acclaimed Netflix series following the royal family and particularly the reign of Queen Elizabeth II.
The six seasons spanned Queen Elizabeth's accession to the throne in 1952, to her guiding the next generation of royals into the millennium, with the series ending in the early 2000s.
However, since the TV show's 2023 finale, the royal family has become even more front and centre. And from Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's step away from royal life, to Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor's recent arrest, there have been calls for the TV show to return with another season.
Now, the Netflix gods appear to have answered, with sources reporting that The Crown show creators are returning for a brand new spin-off show.
According to "a well-placed source" via the Daily Mail's Richard Eden, "Netflix has been locked in negotiations with the company for quite a long time about this spin-off series, but they've recently finally managed to seal the deal and come to an agreement."
However, it will not be the instalment that fans are expecting, with Eden reporting that the spin-off series "will span the period from Queen Victoria’s death in 1901 to the wedding of the then Princess Elizabeth in 1947."
"Peter Morgan had already been putting pen to pad," Eden continued of the prequel season, adding that "casting is expected to take place next year."
It is not known whether The Crown will ever return to depict the current royal family. However, show creator Peter Morgan has previously spoken out about his 20-year rule, suggesting that a modern season would be a long way off.
"I don't know where in the scheme of things Prince Andrew or indeed Meghan Markle or Harry will ever appear," Morgan explained to the Hollywood Reporter back in 2020. "We won't know, and you need time to stop something from being journalistic. And so I don't want to write about them because to write about them would instantly make it journalistic.
"I just think you get so much more interesting [with time]," he continued. "Meghan and Harry are in the middle of their journey, and I don't know what their journey is or how it will end. One wishes some happiness, but I'm much more comfortable writing about things that happened at least 20 years ago. I sort of have in my head a 20-year rule. That is enough time and enough distance to really understand something, to understand its role, to understand its position, to understand its relevance."
We will continue to update this story.
