Netflix’s royal drama, The Crown, stole the show last night at the 73rd Primetime Emmy Awards. The drama won outstanding series as well as many of the actors winning awards for the individual accolades.

The drama’s fourth season proved to be a huge success, introducing for the first time Diana, the Princess of Wales and her relationship with Prince Charles.

But when does the fifth season air, and will the same actors be present for the next part of the story line?

Who will star in season 5?

Jumping forward in time, as in previous instalments, Olivia Coleman will be replaced by Imelda Staunton as Queen Elizabeth II. On The Crown's Twitter statement she said:

“I have loved watching The Crown from the very start. As an actress it was a joy to see how both Claire Foy and Olivia Coleman brought something special and unique to Peter Morgan’s scripts.

“I am genuinely honoured to be joining such an exceptional creative team and to be taking the crown to its conclusion.”

Staunton will be joined by Lesley Manville, who will play Princess Margaret and Jonathan Price who will portray Prince Philip.

Emma Corrin and Josh O’ Connor will also be replaced by a new Princess Diana and Prince Charles. Elizabeth Debicki and Dominic West will take on the new roles.

When will it air?

Filming of season 5 only began in June 2021, so season 5 won’t be returning to Netflix until 2022.

Is this the last season?

Creator Peter Morgan had originally stated he saw the series running for 6 seasons, however in January 2020 he told the Hollywood Reporter that in preparing for the fifth season he realised that it would be the last.

However, in July this year Morgan seems to have backtracked, telling the Hollywood Reporter again that there would be six seasons after all.

He said: “As we started to discuss the storylines for series five, it soon became clear that in order to do justice to the richness and complexity of the story we should go back to the original plan and do six seasons”

So, there is hope for season 6 after all!

Season five of the crown is currently being filmed, with plans to be on Netflix in 2022.