Despite the fact that the third season of “The Crown” has just been released on Netflix, Olivia Colman’s scintillating debut as Queen Elizabeth II and the impending exploration of both Prince Charles’ marriage to Princess Diana and Margaret Thatcher’s tenure as prime minister of the United Kingdom means that attention has already turned to the fourth season of the hit Netflix show.
But when is Season 4 of “The Crown” being released on Netflix?
Unfortunately, we don’t have an exact date, but recent history and the shooting schedule for Season 4 of “The Crown” suggests that it will almost certainly arrive in either November or December of 2020. That’s because Season 1 was released on Netflix on Nov. 4, 2016, Season 2 arrived on Dec. 8, 2017 and Season 3 hit on Nov. 17.
Production on Season 4 of “The Crown” actually begun back in August, and it is expected to run through February 2020. That’s almost exactly the same timeframe as Season 3, which began filming in July 2018 and ultimately concluded in February 2019.
The current speculation is that Season 4 of “The Crown” will be set between 1979 and 1990, which is when Margaret Thatcher reigned, and we already know that “X-Files” icon Gillian Anderson will play the Iron Lady.
There’s plenty of material to dive into in this period, too, as Prince Charles married Diana Spencer in 1981, while she gives birth to Prince William in 1982 and then Prince Harry in 1984. Netflix has already confirmed that Emma Corrin will take the role of Diana, and there’s a very good chance that we’ll see the start of Charles’ affair with Camilla Parker Bowles, too.
Other potential plot points include the two assassination attempts against the Queen in 1981, an intruder breaking into her bedroom in Buckingham Palace in 1982, Princess Margaret’s surgery to remove a lung in 1985 and Prince Andrew’s wedding to Sarah Ferguson in 1986.
In the meantime, though, make sure to watch all 10 episodes of the third season of “The Crown,” which are now available on Netflix, especially because after the fourth season of the show will almost certainly be recast again.
