To say that Netflix is enjoying a phenomenal year may read as something of an understatement – Stranger Things and The Get Down have both impressed, while there’s still Luke Cage to look forward to – and considering the streaming service is driving toward a future that would see its own original productions make up 50 percent of the digital library, 2016 certainly won’t be remembered as some fleeting anomaly on the company’s upward trajectory.
Of course, an original production doesn’t necessarily guarantee success; there are plenty of middling films and TV series lining the digital shelves of Netflix’s library. But when you factor in such crowd-pleasing hits as Stranger Things et al., that Netflix Original branding has become a hallmark of quality in the streaming space – something The Crown will be out to uphold come November.
Created and written by Peter Morgan (The Queen), Netflix’s latest original production chronicles the early rise of Queen Elizabeth II “at a time when Britain was recovering from war and her empire was in decline.” Taking her place on the throne as a matter of duty as opposed to choice, the lavish production values and Game of Thrones-esque drama can be seen as a way to court the interest of Anglophiles from across the pond. This, coupled with the casting of Claire Foy as Elizabeth and Matt Smith (Doctor Who) as Prince Philip, piques our curiosity right off the bat, and we’re intrigued to see how Morgan’s series balances Elizabeth’s reign across its 10-episode season.
Also starring Jared Harris as King George VI, Vanessa Kirby as Princess Margaret and John Lithgow as Winston Churchill, The Crown will make its bow via Netflix on November 4.
