Is The Crown season 6 the final series? Will there be a season 7 of Netflix royal family drama show

Netflix hit historical drama The Crown, which follows the lives of the Royal Family through the second half of the 20th century, returns for season six next month.

The new season sees Imelda Staunton, Jonathan Pryce, Beau Gadsdon, Dominic, and Elizabeth Debicki return, and picks up where the previous series left off.

New to the show are Rufus Kampa, Ed McVey and Senan West, who will play Prince William at different ages, and Meg Bellamy as Kate Middleton.

Season six will cover around eight years of national and world events from the perspective of the royals, bridging the gap between the 20th and 21st century, and recreating what for many viewers will be recent history.

The Crown’s showrunner previously planned to end the show after season five before pushing forward with a sixth season - this is what we know about season six of The Crown and whether it will be the final season.

Is The Crown season 6 the final series?

Speaking in January 2020 ahead of the release of season four, showrunner Peter Morgan said that whilst he had originally planned to make six seasons of The Crown, the show would end after season five.

He said at the time: “Now that we have begun work on the stories for season five it has become clear to me that this is the perfect time and place to stop.”

Obviously, this was not the case, and Morgan once again had a change of heart, and in July 2020 he confirmed that the series would have a sixth season “to do justice to the richness and complexity of the story”.

Unfortunately, this does mean that season six will be the final season of The Crown, as Morgan has not voiced any further U-turns in the more than three years since he called time on the show at season six.

What time period will The Crown season 6 cover?

The final season of The Crown will be set between 1997 and 2005 and will cover the death of Princess Diana, Princess Margaret, and the Queen Mother, as well as 9/11, and Prince William’s first year at St Andrews and his early encounters with Kate Middleton.

The series will wrap up with events that took place 17 years before the death of Queen Elizabeth II, which means that there would be plenty more material for further seasons - Royal Weddings, the Prince Andrew Scandal, Covid-19 and the death of Prince Philip to name a few - but Morgan is set on ending the show in 2005. 

When is The Crown season 6 release date?

Season six of The Crown will be released on Netflix in two instalments. Part one, made up of four episodes, will be released on the platform on Thursday 16 November, and part two, which contains six episodes, will land on Netflix on Thursday 14 December.