Netflix is Splitting ‘The Crown’ Season 6 Into Two Parts: Diana’s Death and Will & Kate 

The Crown‘s six season-long reign on Netflix is about to come to a dramatic end. Netflix revealed a brand new teaser for The Crown‘s sixth and final season this morning, while also confirming premiere dates for the split season. The Crown Season 6 Part 1 will follow Princess Diana (Elizabeth Debicki) as she embarks on a romance with Dodi Fayed (Khalid Abdalla) while The Crown Season 6 Part 2 will jump ahead in time to follow the young Prince William (Ed McVey) as he tries to navigate his grief while coming of age in the public eye. The new teaser trailer for The Crown also hints that the focus will still be on Queen Elizabeth II (Imelda Staunton) as she looks back on her life with some measure of regret for what she lost in service to the Crown.

The Crown is Peter Morgan’s lavish, but also intimate, look at the lives of the modern British royals. The first two seasons focused on Queen Elizabeth II (Claire Foy) as a young monarch juggling her duty as a monarch with her responsibilities as a wife, sister, and mother. Seasons 3 and 4 of The Crown looked at how the middle-aged monarch (Olivia Colman) was losing her grip on her family, specifically son and heir Prince Charles (Josh O’Connor). The Crown Season 5 dramatized how Charles (Dominic West) and Diana’s divorce threatened to blow up the institution that the Queen had devoted her entire life to. The sixth and final season of The Crown will set up Princess Diana’s tragic death and show us the emotional aftermath.

So when does The Crown Season 6 premiere on Netflix? Here’s everything we know about The Crown Season 6 on Netflix…

When Does The Crown Season 6 Premiere on Netflix? The Crown Season 6 Premiere Dates:

For the first time ever, Netflix is splitting a season of The Crown into two distinct parts with different premiere dates.

The first four episodes of The Crown Season 6, aka The Crown Season 6 Part 1, will premiere on Thursday, November 16.

The last six episodes of The Crown Season 6, aka The Crown Season 6 Part 2, will premiere on Thursday, December 14.

Why Is The Crown Season 6 Divided Into Two Parts?

In recent years, Netflix has started experimenting with the rollout of its most popular shows, dividing seasons into two parts to extend hype over longer periods of time. Fans have seen this with everything from Stranger Things to Virgin River. However, there’s also a creative reason for the season split this time around.

The Crown Season 6 Part 1 will focus on Diana’s final years. We’re going to get the iconic “divorce dress” as well as a dramatization of her death in a horrific automobile accident. For these episodes, the young Prince William and Prince Harry will be played by actors Rufus Kampa and Fflyn Edwards, respectively.

The Crown Season 6 Part 2, on the other hand, will jump ahead a few years to follow the Princes in their late teens and early twenties. According to Netflix, in these episodes, “Prince William tries to integrate back into life at Eton in the wake of his mother’s death as the monarchy has to ride the wave of public opinion. As she reaches her Golden Jubilee, the Queen reflects on the future of the monarchy with the marriage of Charles and Camilla and the beginnings of a new Royal fairytale in William and Kate.” Ed McVey will play Prince William, Meg Bellamy will be Kate Middleton, and Luther Ford is playing Prince Harry.

Is There a Trailer for The Crown Season 6?

There is a brand new teaser trailer that doesn’t seem to offer any new footage of The Crown Season 6, but perhaps some snippets of dialogue. We get a shadowy tour of Buckingham Palace with callbacks to Claire Foy and Olivia Colman’s versions of Queen Elizabeth II. Finally, we settle on Imelda Staunton’s take on the monarch as she prepares to step out on the palace’s iconic balcony.

You can watch the teaser at the top of this page.

The Crown Season 6 Part 1 will premiere on Netflix on Thursday, November 16.