If you're a fan of the Netflix original TV series The Crown, we've got good news for you: season six of the series, which will stream later this year, might not mean the end of the show. Following reports that Netflix was planning to film a prequel as the royal drama nears its end, a UK newspaper has since revealed that The Crown may return not as just one spin-off but as multiple films.
According to The Sun's unnamed source, one of a group of "Netflix insiders" that have spoken to the paper, the idea was inspired off the back of other hit show's success at rolling out films. "Although this sounds like a drastic change, it's one that proved a huge success for Downtown Abbey, which ran for 52 episodes before continuing as two hit films," the source told the paper.
As the world's best streaming service, Netflix already has tons of hit original shows that could follow a similar approach. And given the success of The Crown season 5, we're excited to see what could be in store in a film adaptation.
What could The Crown spin-off films be about?
While we don't yet know what these potential spin-off films could be about, it's likely that there's a good chance we'll rank them among our best Netflix Original movies if the series is anything to go by. But according to The Sun, the discussions are supposedly focusing around either making a movie or a series of specials that could take stories from a range of different times and topics.
The examples cited include the abdication crisis of the 1930s and the 21st Century royals. If British history isn't your thing, you might not be familiar with the crisis. Essentially, in the mid-1930s, King Edward VIII nearly brought down the monarchy when he wanted to wed an American divorcee, Wallis Simpson. Because the British King is the head of the Church of England, which did not at the time allow divorcees to remarry unless their partners were deceased, it all kicked off in spectacular style. The King eventually abdicated in 1936, with his brother Albert becoming King George VI – the rest is history.
The prospect of a film about the era of Prince William, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle is interesting, and unlikely to delight UK tabloids quite as much when Prince Harry, alongside Elton John and other high-profile figures, is suing the Daily Mail's publisher over the alleged illegal gathering of private information. In his memoir, Spare, Harry said that reforming the British press was now his life's work. A spin-off of The Crown that showed the modern royal scandals and the younger royals taking on the worst of the British press would be as gritty as Succession, and I'd watch it in a heartbeat.
For now, though, there's still season six of The Crown to look forward to. That's expected to stream later this year and will feature Imelda Staunton as Queen Elizabeth II, Jonathan Pryce as her husband Prince Philip and Dominic West as Prince Charles. Elizabeth Debicki will return as Princess Diana, but has said in interviews that she hadn't seen the rest of the cast for some time and that's been widely interpreted as a sign that the death of the Princess will happen very early in the final season.
