Filming on the sixth and final season of The Crown is underway, with actors Ed McVey and Meg Bellamy having been photographed playing Prince William and the former Kate Middleton this week in St. Andrews, Scotland.
Cameras rolled as the Emmy-winning show recreated the early part of the royals’ relationship, which was sparked in the early 2000s, when they both attended the University of St. Andrews.
McVey and Bellamy were filmed together on a street and separately as the young Will and Kate.
When they were cast in September, Netflix said both of the actors were making their screen debuts in the high-profile parts. The company noted that Bellamy had submitted her audition tape in response to a casting call on social media.
Students who spotted the cameras quickly alerted TikTok, which the actors didn’t seem to mind at all.
In Season 5, the lavish Netflix drama focused on the disintegration of the marriage between Prince Charles (now King Charles III) and Princess Diana, who’s been played by Emma Corrin and Elizabeth Debicki. (The former earned an Emmy nomination for her work.) But when we last saw the royal family, Charles and Diana’s sons, William and Harry, were still kids. In the sixth season, the show will delve into Diana’s tragic death in 1997, the aftermath and its toll on the entire royal family.
Fans are used to seeing fresh cast members. Since The Crown began at the start of the late Queen Elizabeth II’s reign in 1952, Claire Foy, Olivia Colman and Imelda Staunton have all portrayed her, and the rest of the actors have also been swapped out, too. Even in the upcoming season, William and Kate will be played by McVey and Bellamy, yes, but also by two younger actors.
While the show is obviously not a documentary, the U.K. government’s culture secretary asked that it include a disclaimer, noting that it was fictional, in 2020. The show declined, although the trailer for the fifth season that dropped afterward noted the series is a “fictional dramatisation.”
Although the story of William’s younger brother, Prince Harry, and his wife, Meghan Markle’s difficult relationships within the royal family would appear to be rife with stories for a seventh season, creator and executive producer Peter Morgan has said this sixth season will be the last. It’s expected to premiere in late 2023.