‘The Crown’ to pause filming after Queen Elizabeth II’s death
"The Crown is a love letter to her and I’ve nothing to add for now," Peter Morgan said
By Tomás Mier
Peter Morgan, The creator of Netflix’s The Crown, which follows the life of Queen Elizabeth, shared Thursday that the show’s sixth season will pause production to mourn the Queen’s death.
“The Crown is a love letter to her and I’ve nothing to add for now, just silence and respect,” Morgan said in an email to Deadline. “I expect we will stop filming out of respect too.”
Back in 2016, when the show first premiered, another one of the show’s creators, Stephen Daldry, told Deadline that the cast would likely stop production in the case of the Queen’s death.
“None of us know when that time will come, but it would be right and proper to show respect to the Queen,” Daldry said at the time. “It would be a simple tribute and a mark of respect. She’s a global figure and it’s what we should do.”
Since it began airing, The Crown has won 21 Emmy Awards, including outstanding drama series for its fourth season.
Three actresses have played the role of Queen Elizabeth throughout the show’s run: Claire Foy starred as a younger Elizabeth before becoming queen, Olivia Colman during her early years as monarch, and Imelda Staunton, who will take on the role of the Queen when the show’s fifth season airs in November.
Foy, Colman, and Staunton have yet to make public statements about the royal’s passing.
Morgan also wrote the Oscar-winning film The Queen, where Helen Mirren portrayed Her Majesty. “I am proud to be an Elizabethan,” Mirren wrote in a tribute post on social media Thursday. “We mourn a woman, who, with or without the crown, was the epitome of nobility.”
The British monarchy announced Queen Elizabeth’s passing Thursday afternoon with a short statement. “The Queen died peacefully at Balmoral this afternoon,” the message read. “The King and The Queen Consort will remain at Balmoral this evening and will return to London tomorrow.”
The news came just hours after Buckingham Palace released a statement noting concern for the royal’s health. In a rare comment, the palace confirmed on Sept. 8 that the Queen would remain under medical supervision at her home in Balmoral. Following the news, the Queen’s children and grandchildren traveled to be by her side, including her son and heir, Prince Charles, as well as Prince William and Prince Harry.