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The Crown season 4

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The Crown
Season 4
Promotional poster
Starring
No. of episodes10
Release
Original networkNetflix
Original release15 November 2020 (2020-11-15)
Season chronology
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Season 3
Next →
Season 5
List of episodes

The fourth season of The Crown, which follows the life and reign of Queen Elizabeth II, was released by Netflix on 15 November 2020.[3]

Olivia Colman stars as Elizabeth, with main cast members Tobias Menzies, Helena Bonham Carter, Josh O'Connor, Marion Bailey, Erin Doherty and Emerald Fennell all reprising their roles from the third season. Gillian Anderson, Emma Corrin and Stephen Boxer are added to the main cast. Additionally, Charles Dance returns in the season's first episode and Claire Foy reprises her role as Elizabeth in a cameo flashback scene.

Premise

The Crown traces the life of Queen Elizabeth II from her wedding in 1947 to the present day.[4]

The fourth season covers the time period between 1979 and 1990, is set during Margaret Thatcher's premiership, and introduces Lady Diana Spencer.[5][6] Events depicted include the wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer,[7] their 1983 tour of Australia and New Zealand,[8][9] the Falklands War,[10] Michael Fagan's break-in at Buckingham Palace,[11] Lord Mountbatten's funeral,[12] the Princess of Wales's appearance at the Barnardo's Champion Children Awards, and Thatcher's departure from office.[11]

Cast

Main

The following actors are credited in the opening titles of single episodes in which they play a significant role:

Recurring

Notable guests

Episodes

No.
overall
No. in
season
TitleDirected byWritten byOriginal release date
311"Gold Stick"Benjamin CaronPeter Morgan15 November 2020 (2020-11-15)
322"The Balmoral Test"Paul WhittingtonPeter Morgan15 November 2020 (2020-11-15)
333"Fairytale"Benjamin CaronPeter Morgan15 November 2020 (2020-11-15)
344"Favourites"Paul WhittingtonPeter Morgan15 November 2020 (2020-11-15)
355"Fagan"Paul WhittingtonJonathan D. Wilson & Peter Morgan15 November 2020 (2020-11-15)
366"Terra Nullius"Julian JarroldPeter Morgan15 November 2020 (2020-11-15)
377"The Hereditary Principle"Jessica HobbsPeter Morgan15 November 2020 (2020-11-15)
388"48:1"Julian JarroldPeter Morgan15 November 2020 (2020-11-15)
399"Avalanche"Jessica HobbsPeter Morgan15 November 2020 (2020-11-15)
4010"War"Jessica HobbsPeter Morgan15 November 2020 (2020-11-15)

Production

Development

By October 2017, "early production" had begun on an anticipated third and fourth season,[13] and by the following January, Netflix confirmed the series had been renewed for a third and fourth season.[5]

Casting

The producers recast some roles with older actors every two seasons, as the characters age.[32] In October 2017, Olivia Colman was cast as Queen Elizabeth II for the third and fourth seasons.[13] By January 2018, Helena Bonham Carter and Paul Bettany were in negotiations to portray Princess Margaret and Prince Philip, respectively, for these seasons.[33][34] However, by the end of the month Bettany was forced to drop out due to the time commitment required.[35] By the end of March 2018, Tobias Menzies was cast as Philip for the third and fourth seasons.[14] In early May 2018, Bonham Carter was confirmed to have been cast.[15] The next month, Erin Doherty was cast as Princess Anne.[20] A month later, Josh O'Connor and Marion Bailey were cast as Prince Charles and the Queen Mother, respectively, for the third and fourth seasons.[17] In October 2018, Emerald Fennell was cast as Camilla Shand.[21] In December 2018, Charles Dance was cast as Louis Mountbatten.[22] In April 2019, Emma Corrin was cast as Lady Diana Spencer for the fourth season.[36] In September 2019 Gillian Anderson, who had been rumoured since that January to be in talks to portray Margaret Thatcher in the fourth season, was officially confirmed for the role.[16][37][38]

Filming

The fourth season began filming in August 2019 and completed in March 2020.[39][40] The producers confirmed that filming was completed ahead of the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown; the release date was not delayed.[41]

Release

The fourth season was released on 15 November 2020.[42][3]

Reception

Rotten Tomatoes reported a 97% approval rating for the season based on 106 reviews, with an average rating of 8.64/10 and a critical consensus: "Whatever historical liberties The Crown takes...are easily forgiven thanks to the sheer power of its performances – particularly Gillian Anderson's imposing take on The Iron Lady and newcomer Emma Corrin's embodiment of a young Princess Diana".[43] On Metacritic, the season holds a score of 85 out of 100 based on 27 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".[44] The performance of newcomer Emma Corrin as Diana Spencer received particular praise.[45][46]

Writing in The Atlantic, Shirley Li describes the drama as "sharper than ever" and "splashy", but observes that, in contrast to the first three seasons, the fourth criticises the Queen for her "ignorance" and "stubborn devotion to tradition".[47] In the Evening Standard, Katie Rosseinsky wrote that the season's episodes are "dizzyingly beautiful and staggering in scope", and highlights the outstanding performances of Anderson and Corrin as respectively Thatcher and Lady Diana.[48] In The New Zealand Herald, university professor Giselle Bastin described the season as "a masterly portrait of the turbulent 1980s" and complimented the production standards, casting and acting.[49] BBC's arts editor, Will Gompertz, gave the series a rating of four out of five, praising Corrin and Bonham Carter but criticising Anderson's performance for "forever craning her neck from side-to-side as if scanning for a tasty lettuce leaf, while over-egging her Thatcher impression to such an extent she is close to unwatchable at times".[50]

In a critical review, Dominic Patten of Deadline Hollywood complimented the earlier seasons but said that the fourth had "substantially tweaked timelines" and was "sub-standard soap", and that, despite Colman's performance, some of the other characters were like "Spitting Image live-action caricature".[51] Writing in The Guardian, Simon Jenkins described the season as "fake history", "reality hijacked as propaganda, and a cowardly abuse of artistic licence" which fabricated history to suit its own preconceived narrative.[52] The season has reportedly received backlash from the British royal family and some royal commentators. Royal historian Hugo Vickers stated: "In this particular series, every member of the royal family...comes out of it badly, except the Princess of Wales (Diana). It's totally one sided, it's totally against Prince Charles".[53] Royal biographer Penny Junor criticised the season as portraying the British royal family as "villains", stating that "The Crown's royals are wild, cruel distortions of the people I've known for 40 years".[54][55]

References

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  3. ^ a b Kanter, Jake (20 August 2020). "'The Crown': Netflix Sets Premiere Date, Drops First Trailer For Season 4". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved 20 August 2020.
  4. ^ Singh, Anita (19 August 2015). "£100m Netflix Series Recreates Royal Wedding". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 22 March 2016. Retrieved 18 November 2016.
  5. ^ a b Bentley, Jean (24 January 2018). "'The Crown' Season 3: All the Details (So Far)". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on 25 January 2018. Retrieved 24 January 2018.
  6. ^ Sutton, Megan (19 February 2020). "First look pictures show young Prince William in The Crown season 4". Good Housekeeping. Retrieved 19 February 2020.
  7. ^ Griffiths, Eleanor (9 September 2020). "When is The Crown season 4's Netflix release date? Cast, trailer and latest news". Radio Times. Retrieved 14 September 2020.
  8. ^ "The Prince and Princess of Wales' 1983 tour of Australia and New Zealand". The Telegraph. 4 April 2014. Retrieved 21 September 2020.
  9. ^ Vivinetto, Gina (2 October 2019). "'The Crown' stars re-create Prince Charles and Princess Diana's tour of Australia". Today. Retrieved 21 September 2020.
  10. ^ Ramachandran, Naman (29 September 2020). "'The Crown' Teases First Looks For Gillian Anderson, Emma Corrin, Ahead of Season 4 Premiere on Netflix". Variety. Retrieved 29 September 2020.
  11. ^ a b Hallemann, Caroline (18 March 2020). "The Crown Season 4: Everything We Know So Far". Town and Country Mag. Retrieved 23 April 2020.
  12. ^ Hallemann, Caroline (28 January 2020). "Season 4 of The Crown Will Feature Lord Mountbatten's Funeral". Town and Country Mag. Retrieved 14 October 2020.
  13. ^ a b c Birnbaum, Olivia (26 October 2017). "Olivia Colman Joins 'The Crown' as Queen Elizabeth for Seasons 3 and 4". Variety. Archived from the original on 27 October 2017. Retrieved 27 October 2017.
  14. ^ a b Fleming, Mike Jr (28 March 2018). "'The Crown' Sets 'Outlander's Tobias Menzies As New Prince Philip". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on 29 March 2018. Retrieved 28 March 2018.
  15. ^ a b Otterson, Joe (3 May 2018). "'The Crown' Officially Casts Helena Bonham Carter, Adds Jason Watkins for Season 3". Variety. Archived from the original on 3 May 2018. Retrieved 3 May 2018.
  16. ^ a b Nickolai, Nate (7 September 2019). "Gillian Anderson Joins 'The Crown' as Margaret Thatcher". Variety. Retrieved 20 September 2019.
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  20. ^ a b Sandberg, Bryn Elise (22 June 2018). "'The Crown' Casts Its Princess Anne (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on 22 June 2018. Retrieved 23 June 2018.
  21. ^ a b Kinane, Ruth (23 October 2018). "The Crown casts Call the Midwife actress Emerald Fennell as Camilla Parker Bowles". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on 23 October 2018. Retrieved 24 October 2018.
  22. ^ a b Edwards, Chris (17 December 2018). "The Crown season 3 adds Charles Dance to cast – and here's who he's playing". Digital Spy. Archived from the original on 23 October 2019. Retrieved 22 October 2019.
  23. ^ "The Crown season 4: Palace intruder Michael Fagan 'wasn't consulted' over incident depiction". Metro. Retrieved 13 November 2020.
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  25. ^ Welsh, Daniel. "The Crown's Emma Corrin Reveals 'Filthy' Diana Anecdote She Unearthed During Research". Huff Post. Retrieved 12 October 2020.
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  28. ^ "Princess Diana's Sister Sarah Spencer Still Plays An Important Role In The Royal Family". Elle.
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  31. ^ "Stephen Greif Latest News". stephengreif.com.
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  35. ^ Miller, Julie (25 January 2018). "The Crown's Third Season Is Minus a Prince Philip as Paul Bettany Bows Out". Vanity Fair. Retrieved 5 March 2018.
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  55. ^ "Royal biographer Penny Junor criticises Netflix's 'The Crown' for portraying British royals as 'villains'". moneycontrol.com. Retrieved 19 November 2020.