‘The Crown’ Season 5: Peter Morgan Had 1 Rule About ‘Minefield’ of Charles, Diana Divorce
The Crown Season 5 tackles many royal scandals of the ‘90s. At the beginning of the season, set in 1991, Prince Charles (Dominic West) and Princess Diana (Elizabeth Debicki) are headed for divorce. The Crown Season 5 goes there, but creator Peter Morgan had one rule about it he didn’t want to break.
Morgan spoke with Netflix’s Tudum in an interview published on Oct. 31 to preview The Crown Season 5. He explained what was fair game and what was off the table when it came to portraying the Charles and Diana breakup.
‘The Crown’ Season 5 covers the details of Princess Diana’s divorce from Prince Charles
Early episodes of The Crown Season 5 show Charles and Diana drifting further apart. Diana begins to confide in Andrew Morton leading to the expose biography Diana: Her True Story – In Her Own Words. It goes further too, including her interview with Martin Bashir on BBC’s Panorama.
“I knew that we’d probably have to deal with annus horribilis, which would be difficult,” Morgan told Netflix. “We’d have to deal with the divorce, which would be difficult. I knew that we’d have to deal with the Panorama interview, which for any number of reasons is a real minefield.”
Executive Producer Suzanne Mackie backed Morgan up on the subjects The Crown Season 5 covers. One episode explicitly introduces the al-Fayed family. Dodi Fayed was a passenger in the car crash that killed Diana as they were beginning a romance.
“Like every previous season, each episode does feel very stand-alone,” Mackie said. “It does feel like there’s more of a story narrative propulsion throughout this season. We are watching a very famous marriage break down, and all the terribly sad consequences that that brings. We meet [Mohamed] al-Fayed and we meet Dodi [al-Fayed]. And so one feels a tension that’s very much inbuilt into the bones of this season, because we know in the end where we’re hurtling towards.”
Peter Morgan would not use ‘The Crown’ Season 5 to criticize the BBC
Morton would have to show the royal family’s opposition to Diana’s tell all. It was complicated because Morgan supported news organizations reporting on historical facts.
“I don’t want to write anything that’s critical of the BBC,” Morgan said. “These are important cultural and historical events that we need to discuss and need to look at — and drama is an absolutely valuable instrument with which to do that.”
Peter Morgan trusted his gut
Morgan is a screenwriter so drama is his business. He also has much experience writing historical drama, such as the movie The Queen prior to The Crown.
Morgan told Netflix he trusted his “own conscience as responsibly and as sensitively.”
He added that he was sensitive to the still living people who he was portraying and would inevitably see season 5.
“I don’t take the responsibility for that lightly,” Morgan said.
