As the world held a collective breath following Buckingham Palace’s confirmation that Queen Elizabeth II underwent medical supervision at her home in Balmoral, even the producers over at Netflix’s The Crown shared they had a plan in place for Her Majesty’s passing.
On Sept. 8 2022 Queen Elizabeth II’s death was confirmed by the Royal Family, thus setting into motion “Operation London Bridge.” This plan outlines everything from Her Majesty’s burial at King George VI Memorial Chapel in St. George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle to the 12-day social media blackout in which the government will ban all Twitter retweets and instances of the like.
For context, Queen Elizabeth II was the longest-reigning monarch in Britain’s history. She took the throne in 1952 at the age of 25 following the death of her father, King George VI. She was 96 years old at the time of her passing and is survived by four children: Charles, Prince of Wales, Anne, Princess Royal, Prince Andrew, Duke of York, and Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex. All four of them have traveled to Balmoral Castle to be by their mother’s side during this uncertain time.
As it turns out, a similar situation has been laid out for the folks over at The Crown, who share they have their own “Operation London Bridge.” Here’s what that looks like.
How will The Crown handle the death of Queen Elizabeth II?
In the event that the cast and crew of The Crown is filming during the time of Queen Elizabeth II’s death, the producers of the show shared that “filming will shut down immediately if we are in production,” per sources at The New York Post, and that “there would also be lots of discussion about when to restart.”
Currently, season five of The Crown has already been filmed and scheduled to release in Nov. 2022. The new season will see the introduction of Imelda Staunton as Queen Elizabeth II. The season will follow the Royal Family through the tumultuous years of the mid-90s, during which Prince Charles and Princess Diana got a divorce and Princess Diana met her untimely death in 1997. Actress Elizabeth Debicki will take over for the role of Princess Diana, previously played by Emma Corrin.
Season six of The Crown began filming in Aug. 2022, according to What’s on Netflix. If The Crown does intend on following through with its own “Operation London Bridge” that means filming for the Emmy Award-winning Netflix show has just been halted.
