‘The Crown’ ending with Season 5, Imelda Staunton to play Queen Elizabeth

Netflix’s award-winning British royal drama “The Crown” has decided to abdicate the throne after the fifth season.

The Peter Morgan series was originally slated to run for six seasons with three different actresses playing Queen Elizabeth II at various points in her 67-yearlong reign. With the announcement of the show’s ending, Netflix confirmed that Imelda Staunton will play the queen in Season 5.

Staunton is a British acting powerhouse who has thrived on the London stage, picking up four Olivier Awards, several for musical performances such as “Gypsy.” She has one Oscar nomination to her credit, for Mike Leigh’s 2004 abortion drama “Vera Drake.” (She lost to Hilary Swank for “Million Dollar Baby,” but won a New York Film Critics award for best actress.) Staunton was most recently seen in the film version of “Downton Abbey,” and she’s married to Jim Carter, who plays Carson.

“At the outset, I had imagined ‘The Crown’ running for six seasons, but now that we have begun work on the stories for Season 5, it has become clear to me that this is the perfect time and place to stop,” Morgan told The Hollywood Reporter. “I’m grateful to Netflix and Sony for supporting me in this decision.”

Season 4 of “The Crown,” which stars Olivia Colman, is currently in production. It covers the 1960s when the outrageous (by British standards) antics of Princess Margaret (Helena Bonham Carter) were really getting on the Queen’s royal nerves and her perpetually neutered husband, Prince Philip (Tobias Menzies), was feeling sidelined, as usual. Earlier this month, Colman won a Golden Globe for her work on the show and the entire cast was given a best ensemble trophy at the SAG awards. Seasons 1 and 2 of the series brought Emmy and Golden Globe awards to Claire Foy, who also played the queen.

Viewers hoping that “The Crown” would go long enough to catch up to the association of Prince Andrew with Jeffrey Epstein are likely to be disappointed. Ditto the shocking decision of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle to move out of England, a decision which cost them their titles.