I watched the entire series of The Crown, as did the Windsors. The first half of the series is very good and a reasonably accurate dramatization of 20th century history. The Crown’s creator and showrunner Peter Morgan fumbled the last seasons significantly though, not just in the sappy dramatization of Prince William and Kate Middleton’s haphazard courtship, but almost everything about then-Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles. It was clear that all of the palace’s loud whining about the series really got to Morgan and he adjusted the series to make it into monarchist/pro-Camilla propaganda. Not only that, but Morgan totally burned out on the Windsors when tried to write the 21st century stories. He couldn’t do it, the “history” was still being written, adjusted and edited. So he’s going back to his safe space – the 20th century.
A prequel to The Crown has been given the green light by Netflix, it has been reported. The popular series, which controversially charted the Royal family’s modern history in its latest season, will return for a “spin-off”, beginning with Queen Victoria’s death in 1901.
The deal, in negotiation between the streaming giant and producer Left Bank Pictures, is said to be worth up to £500m after the runaway success of The Crown. It would span the lengthy time period from Victoria’s death on the Isle of Wight to the wedding of the then Princess Elizabeth, the late Queen, in 1947 at Westminster Abbey.
An insider to the production discussions told the Daily Mail: “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.”
The Crown’s Peter Morgan is expected to return to helm the new show, following on from the success of the historical drama – which earned 24 Emmy Awards across six seasons – as well as launching the careers of Emma Corrin and Josh O’Connor.
The source added: “Peter had already been putting pen to pad and casting is expected to take place next year.”
Previously, the creator, showrunner and principal writer of The Crown, has suggested that he would only helm further iterations of the show if it were to go back in time, rather than forward. He told The Hollywood Reporter in 2024: “For the time being, I cannot imagine any circumstances in which I’d want to go further into the present, as it were, but at the same time, I don’t think I’m done with the subject. I might find some way of coming into it from a different way. If you go back in time, you always have that wonderful opportunity for metaphor.”
“You can find a story in the past and tell that, and it [will] actually be a story about the present, but in camouflage. And that, I think, might be a more elegant way forward. To move forward from where I left the show off at the moment feels too soon.”
So it’s a series which would span 1901 to the immediate post-WWII era. That was when the Saxe-Coburg-Gothas became “the Windsors” and when they were desperately trying to shake off their Germanic roots. That also covers the abdication crisis, Edward VIII and Wallis Simpson. That part of it could be interesting, if done accurately. But does anyone have any faith in Peter Morgan to tell an accurate story of the roots of Britain’s modern royal family? The first three seasons would need subtitles for all of the German being spoken in all of those palaces.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Netflix/The Crown.
