More than five months after revealing The Crown will end after season five, Netflix says its hit show about Britain's royal family will, in fact, extend to a sixth season that will take the series into the early 2000s.
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The streaming giant announced the change of plans on Twitter on Thursday, highlighting that creator Peter Morgan wanted to do justice to the "richness and complexity" of the story.
Netflix has underlined, however, that season six will be the show's final run.
Writer-creator Morgan said: "As we started to discuss the storylines for series five, it soon became clear that in order to do justice to the richness and complexity of the story we should go back to the original plan and do six seasons. To be clear, series six will not bring us any closer to present-day - it will simply enable us to cover the same period in greater detail."
Produced by Sony-backed Left Bank Pictures, the show wrapped shooting on season four - in which Olivia Colman plays Queen Elizabeth II - in mid-March, just before the UK being placed in lockdown.
It's expected that season four will launch later this year and will be Oscar winner Colman's final turn as the Queen.
Imelda Staunton will take on those honours for season five and the Vera Drake star will now have two seasons playing the monarch as opposed to just one. Last week, Netflix confirmed that Lesley Manville would play Princess Margaret.
Australian Associated Press