As you may have heard, the opposition to Netflix’s The Crown has escalated over the last few days as we approach the season five premiere on November 9. Just to recap: season four ended with Prince Charles and Princess Diana’s marriage irrevocably broken. Season five will be about the events that led up to their formal separation – the battle between that played out in the media, with both of their participation. It is not hyperbolic to say that this period in British royal family history was a crisis situation. 

 

And the timing for the public to revisit this story could not be worse for the newly crowned King of England. Which is why so many people are shouting about what they perceive to be Netflix’s malice with former prime ministers and acclaimed actresses, like Dame Judi Dench, weighing in on Netflix’s supposed abdication of responsibility in their refusal to label the series with a disclaimer that what’s depicted on the show is not entirely factual. 

There have also been reports that Netflix is “rattled” by the criticism and is considering delaying Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s docuseries so as to not further piss off the British royals….which I side-eyed yesterday in my post about Meghan because, well, Netflix wasn’t rattled two years ago with the release of season four and similar bitching and moaning, so why would they be rattled now as they’re seeing a rise in subscribers and coming off the surge of interest in the previous seasons of The Crown following the Queen’s death? 

 

Getting rattled is not Netflix’s way. As I wrote yesterday, Netflix’s way is, where The Crown is concerned, to troll. And look what we have here – amid all the complaining and angsting about The Crown, they decided to drop the trailer. With NO DISCLAIMER, lol. 

Um, well, so much for being “rattled”. They aren’t f-cking rattled. It’s quite the opposite, they’re pouring gasoline on the situation and lighting it up. 

 

This is an institutional brawl, the royal corporation of England vs the mega content corporation known as Netflix. One is “bound by tradition” and slow to respond, and the other has been an industry disruptor and understands the power of modern media. One is fighting for its existence, the other is fighting for stock prices. Both are protecting their asses. This is a throwdown, a showdown, is your popcorn ready? 

Well, yeah. Because you’re going to watch. A lot of you are going to watch. So many of us are going to watch – both the drama in real life AND the drama on the show…which is probably not going to be kind to the King, even as they generously cast Dominic West to play Charles. And really…

If we’re looking for a disclaimer… 

Isn’t Dominic West the disclaimer?! In what world with eyes is that a physical likeness? 

The disclaimer is that Dominic West is Prince Charles!