The Crown season 5 will not air until 2022
The royal drama was reportedly always due to take a production hiatus between seasons four and five.
The fifth season of Netflix's hit royal drama The Crown will not be released until 2022, with the show set to take a production hiatus before its final cast change.
According to Deadline, series five is expected to begin filming in June 2021 but it is understood the break had always been planned and that the coronavirus pandemic has had no impact on the delay.
The fourth series of the show had almost wrapped production prior to the disruption caused by the pandemic and there is still hope that the season will be finished in time to keep it's originally scheduled date - thought to be sometime towards the end of 2020.
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The season is expected to take place during the late '70s and early '80s, with the likes of Gillian Anderson and Emma Corrin joining the cast to play Margaret Thatcher and Princes Diana respectively.
There was previously a two year gap between series two and three, when the cast changed for the first time - Olivia Colman taking over from Claire Foy in the lead role of Queen Elizabeth II - so it is not too surprising that there will be a similar gap prior to the next change.
Series five is set to see Imelda Staunton replace Colman as the Queen, with other new cast members to include Lesley Manville as the next Princess Margaret.
It had originally been announced that the fifth season would also be the show's last, but show boss Peter Morgan announced an unexpected U-turn earlier this month, revealing that there would now be six seasons of The Crown to allow for the already agreed upon time period to be covered in more depth.
RadioTimes.com has approached Netflix for comment.
The Crown is currently available to stream on Netflix. You can also check out the best series on Netflix and best movies Netflix to keep you entertained or visit to our TV guide for more to watch.
Authors
Patrick Cremona is the Senior Film Writer at Radio Times, and looks after all the latest film releases both in cinemas and on streaming. He has been with the website since October 2019, and in that time has interviewed a host of big name stars and reviewed a diverse range of movies.
