Netflix/Des Willie(LONDON) — Imelda Staunton, announced earlier this year as the successor to Olivia Coleman as Queen Elizabeth II seasons five and six of in Netflix’s The Crown, will have to wait until 2022 to take her place on the throne.

Deadline reports production on the show’s fifth season won’t begin until June of next year.

The break in filming has always been been part of the plan, and not COVID-19 related according to the entertainment website, though sources say the hiatus has been “helpfully timed.”

In fact, there was also a two-year gap between seasons two and three of the series, as Claire Foy passed the crown to Colman.

Netflix reversed course a couple of weeks ago by announcing that its award-winning drama wouldn’t end with season five as previously announced.

However, with season five filming in June 2021, cameras won’t begin rolling on the sixth and final season until 2022.

Meanwhile, season four will launch later this year, taking the series into the 1980s — with X-Files veteran Gillian Anderson playing Margaret Thatcher, and Emma Corrin as Princess Diana.

By George Costantino and Stephen Iervolino
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