Netflix’s fan-favourite series The Crown is finally making its long-awaited return.
The historical drama, which chronicled the life of Queen Elizabeth II between the 1940s to the present day in its first four seasons, is set to premiere its fifth this week.
You can follow live updates as the show is released here.
Scheduled to arrive on the streamer on 9 November, series five is expected to be the penultimate season of The Crown.
The 10 new episodes will arrive at 12.01am PT/3.01am ET/8.01am GMT.
The official trailer teased that The Crown season five’s storyline will largely focus on the late Princess Diana’s (Elizabeth Debicki) disintegrating marriage to the then Prince Charles (Dominic West).
Elsewhere, the teaser showed Diana taking a seat for her now infamously discredited Panorama interview and almost losing control of her car. “People will never understand how it’s really been for me, I never stood a chance,” Diana reflects amid the chaos.
The series’ return comes amid increased scrutiny following the death of Queen Elizabeth II and the anticipation of the King’s coronation on 6 May. As the show progresses, its historical timeline creeps closer to present-day events.
Last month, Dame Judi Dench joined several big Hollywood names in criticising Netflix for the inclusion of certain scenes, which she labelled as “crude sensationalism”.
According to Dench, these scenes depict Charles “plotting for his mother to abdicate” and show him “suggesting his mother’s parenting was so deficient that she might have deserved a jail sentence”.
She called these scenes “wounding suggestions”, writing in a letter to The Times: “This is both cruelly unjust to the individuals and damaging to the institution they represent. No one is a greater believer in artistic freedom than I, but this cannot go unchallenged.”
Debicki urged critics to “move on” from complaining about the show’s depiction of the royals.
Her comments follow those made by Sir Jonathan Pryce, who recently said he was “hugely disappointed” by the critical reaction of his “fellow artistes” to The Crown.
Season five of The Crown debuts on Netflix on 9 November.
