Netflix Adds “Fictional” Disclaimer To ‘The Crown’ Season Five Trailer Following Backlash
Netflix has added a disclaimer to the description for its latest The Crown trailer following a difficult couple of weeks for the royal series.
In the YouTube description below the video for the fifth season trailer, Netflix states: “inspired by real events, this fictional dramatisation tells the story of Queen Elizabeth II and the political and personal events that shaped her reign” .
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None of the previous trailers included this disclaimer, instead going straight into a description of the season.
The move comes after two years of lobbying from certain circles including former Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden, who said in late 2020 that a “health warning” should be played before episodes so viewers know the series is a work of fiction.
That “health warning” still doesn’t appear in the current trailer, however, only in the YouTube description. Netflix already uses the “fictionalised” line in press materials, on social media and on The Crown’s Netflix landing page.
The highly anticipated fifth season will likely be one of Netflix’s most watched shows of the year but, since the death of Queen Elizabeth II, it has faced a bumpy ride.
Earlier this week, British A-lister Dame Judi Dench hit out publicly at the show for “crude sensationalism” in a letter to The Times and, two days prior, Deadline revealed that Netflix had postponed its Prince Harry and Meghan Markle documentary series, which was due to follow The Crown’s November 9 launch.
The Crown producers have also been “on edge” filming the season-six scenes in which Princess Diana is killed in a fatal car crash. Queen Elizabeth II died on September 8 and filming on The Crown was briefly put on pause during the country’s official mourning period.
Season five picks up in the early 1990s following the departure of Margaret Thatcher and with relationship between Diana and then-Prince Charles at breaking point. It ushers in a new set of actors, with the likes of Imelda Staunton, Elizabeth Debicki and Dominic West replacing Olivia Colman, Emma Corrin and Josh O’Connor in major roles. Jonny Lee Miller plays British Prime Minister John Major.
“The Crown has always been presented as a drama based on historical events,” said a Netflix spokeswoman.
“Series five is a fictional dramatisation, imagining what could have happened behind closed doors during a significant decade for the Royal Family – one that has already been scrutinised and well documented by journalists, biographers and historians.”
The news was first reported by The Daily Mail.
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