‘The Crown’ Producer Andy Harries Hints at Spinoffs, Calls Royals “Endless Subject”

The Crown, which concluded its six-season journey on Netflix at the end of last year, has been the center of numerous royal rumors related to potential spinoffs.

Andy Harries, executive producer of the series and founder of Left Bank Pictures, the Sony-backed company that produced the show, has offered insights on the possibility of more stories emerging from its royal narrative.

Harries mentioned that his company was “lucky” with The Crown because they made a deal “at the beginning of Netflix’s life” and retained the rights to the show.

“I can assure you, [that deal] feels very, very good and it gives us the opportunity to think about what we can do further with The Crown at some point. It’s obviously an endless subject. We could go back or we could go on. We did six seasons covering six decades, and there’s plenty of potential, which at some point, I suspect we’ll return to,” he stated on BBC’s The Media Show.

The Crown, which focuses on the reign of Queen Elizabeth II, was created by Peter Morgan, who had previously penned the feature film The Queen and stage play The Audience. The series begins shortly before the wedding of Princess Elizabeth and Philip Mountbatten in 1947 and concludes with the 2005 wedding of Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles.

Claire Foy initially portrayed the Queen in the first two seasons, followed by Olivia Colman in the third and fourth seasons, with Imelda Staunton starring in the final two seasons.

There has been much speculation that The Crown could lead to spinoffs, including a series of specials or movies. One such potential spinoff might focus on Edward VII, who reigned for ten years between 1901 and 1910.

In 2022, it was revealed that Netflix was in early-stage discussions with Harries’ Left Bank over a prequel, which Peter Morgan has reiterated more recently. At the end of last year, Morgan told Deadline that he was “too old to never say never” but added that “in the short term the word palace will not be appearing in anything I write”.

The Crown has garnered 87 Emmy nominations throughout its run, winning 21 of them. It is currently up for Outstanding Drama Series again this year, along with actor nominations for Staunton, Jonathan Pryce who played Prince Philip, Elizabeth Debicki who portrayed Princess Diana, Lesley Manville who played Princess Margaret, Dominic West who appeared as Prince Charles, and Claire Foy who returned briefly to reprise her role as the Queen.

Source: Deadline, BBC