“The Crown” Has Paused Filming To Mourn Queen Elizabeth II

When it comes to The Crown, the pause shouldn’t come as a surprise. In 2016, Stephen Daldry, one of the show’s directors, told Deadline that production would stop when the Queen died.

“None of us know when that time will come but it would be right and proper to show respect to the Queen,” he said. “It would be a simple tribute and a mark of respect. She’s a global figure and it’s what we should do.”

The Crown, Netflix’s drama about the British monarchy, is slowly catching up to the modern day. It is now filming its fifth and final season, which will depict the royal family in the early to mid-1990s. Imelda Staunton will star as the Queen, Dominic West as Prince Charles, and Elizabeth Debicki as Princess Diana.

Some British critics have called The Crown “fake history” and inaccurate, and the UK government even wanted Netflix to warn its viewers of its fictitious storytelling. And on The Late Late Show With James Corden, Prince Harry said the show is fiction, but it gives a “rough idea” of showing the pressures of “putting duty and service above family and everything else.”