It Looks Like ‘The Crown’ Is Getting A Prequel
It will reportedly cover Edward VIII running off to marry American divorcee Wallis Simpson, and the rise of fascism.
Plans for a run of prequels to the wildly successful Netflix series The Crown are reportedly in the works.
The news, which broke via The Daily Mail this morning, suggests that The Crown writer Peter Morgan is writing “up to five” spin-off series. Sounds vague, but we’ll take it.
The prequels will reportedly begin after the death of Queen Victoria in 1901. Morgan will apparently trace the love story between Edward VIII and American divorcee Wallis Simpson, and the abdication crisis that followed. (History repeats, and all of that.) It will also cover the rise of socialism in fascism in Europe. Sounds like a lot!
The Daily Mail references a “well-placed source” who says: ‘This is a bit like Star Wars where the opportunity is to extend the franchise by dipping into history. It is going to start with the death of Queen Victoria and will run up to around about where The Crown began, which was with the wedding of the Queen in 1947.”
The source added that Netflix are “really keen to make more of The Crown and Peter Morgan is excited by the possibilities of the era.”
“At the moment Peter covers about ten years per series, so on that basis there will be five new series of The Crown.” Apparently Morgan has already started writing outlines for the series and plans are being made for filming.
The fifth series of The Crown is scheduled for a release in November. Australian actress Elizabeth Debecki is set to take over the role of Princess Diana from Emma Corrin, with Dominic West taking over from Josh O’Connor in the role of Prince Charles. Finally, Imelda Staunton has been slated to play the Queen, taking over from Olivia Colman.
At the time of writing, there’s no word of what the prequel series will be called, or when its first series will be released.