Netflix series The Crown likely to pause filming out of respect for Queen Elizabeth II

Queen Elizabeth II passed away at the age of 96 on Thursday. Netflix’s Emmy-winning drama The Crown is likely to pause filming for the upcoming season to pay respect to the Britain’s longest-reigning monarch, the writer of the show, Peter Morgan, said.

According to Deadline, Morgan, who also wrote the 2006 film The Queen starring Helen Mirren, revealed in an email message that he expects the production on The Crown’s sixth instalment “will stop filming” out of respect for a period of time.

“The Crown is a love letter to her and I’ve nothing to add for now, just silence and respect. I expect we will stop filming out of respect too,” he wrote.

The streaming giant, according to the publication, had plans in place if Queen Elizabeth passed away while the show was in production. When the show went into production for the first time, Stephen Daldry, director of some of the initial episodes of the first season, vowed that if the show was in production it would come to a halt for a respectable period of time.

Back in 2016, he told Deadline, “None of us know when that time will come but it would be right and proper to show respect to the Queen. It would be a simple tribute and a mark of respect. She’s a global figure and it’s what we should do.”

“She’s an extraordinary woman and people will be upset,” Daldry said at the time.

The show follows the political rivalries and romance of Queen Elizabeth II’s reign and the events that shaped the second half of the 20th century.

The Crown has had three actors play the Queen — Claire Foy, Olivia Colman and Imelda Staunton whose reign is due to start in November for the fifth season. As the story about Princess Diana continues in the fifth season, it will also see our very own Humayun Saeed as Dr Hasnat Khan, who the late Princess was said to be smitten by.