‘The Crown’ star Helena Bonham Carter calls for show to end: ‘It’s very different now’
Helena Bonham Carter has called for an end to hit Netflix series The Crown.
The actress, who played Queen Elizabeth II’s younger sister Princess Margaret in seasons 3 and 4, claims the show has moved away from its roots and is no longer a historical drama.
“I should be careful here too, but I don’t think they should actually go ahead,” she told the Guardian.
“I’m in and I’ve loved my episodes, but now it’s very different. When ‘The Crown’ started it was a historical drama and now it’s plunged into the present.”
Despite the sensational comments, the two-time Oscar nominee ultimately said the decision was “up to them.”
Bonham Carter took over the reins from Vanessa Kirby, who portrayed the late monarch’s sister in the show’s first two seasons.
She passed the baton to Lesley Manville for Season 5, which centered on the turbulent marriage – and divorce – of Princess Diana (played by Elizabeth Debicki) and now-monarch King Charles III (Dominic West). The season premiered in November.
While the sixth and rumored final season has no release date yet, it is set to cover the late 1990s to early 2000s, including the tragic death of Princess Diana.
In 2020, Bonham Carter rallied for the show to add a disclaimer to let viewers know it’s historical fiction and not entirely based on fact.
“It’s dramatized. I feel very empowered because I think we have a moral responsibility to say, ‘Wait a minute guys, this isn’t… it’s not a drama doc, we’re doing drama.’ So they’re two different entities,” she said on an episode of the show’s official podcast, according to The Guardian.
It comes as Prince Harry recently admitted to not only watching the hit Netflix show, but also “fact-checking it”.
Appears on “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” Last month, the Duke of Sussex spoke about the controversial drama series when asked if he had “attacked” anything on TV lately.
After teasing him, Colbert asked if “The Crown” was one of the shows, saying he “must have seen some of it” since it’s based on Harry’s late grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II.
“Yeah, I’ve seen quite a bit of The Crown,” the 38-year-old revealed, before Colbert asked if he’d seen any of the recent episodes.
“The older stuff and the newer stuff,” Harry clarified.
The exiled king was then asked if he had done a “fact check” during the show, leading to a lively response from Harry, followed by laughter from the audience.
“Yes, I actually do,” revealed the father of two. “Which, by the way, is also part of the reason it’s so important that the story is right.”
Harry’s brother, Prince William, was reportedly not happy with Season 4 of the Golden Globe-nominated hit.
