A new episode of Netflix's biographical series The Crown hasn't dropped since November 2020, and Season 5 won't debut until this upcoming November.
Still, driven by the globally observed passing of Queen Elizabeth II, viewing of the original series focused on the British Royal Family has spiked anew, with seasons 1 and 2 of the show generating more than 47 million hours of streaming on Netflix last week.
Season 1 of The Crown, which originally dropped back in November 2016, finished third on Netflix's ranking of English-language TV series for the week of September 12-18, garnering nearly 40.8 million hours of viewing.
The Crown: Season 1 ranked as a top 10 English-language show in 87 countries that host Netflix, and it was the No. 1 show in Iceland and Ukraine.
Globally, The Crown: Season 1 was the No. 4 program overall for the week, finishing behind season 5 of Cobra Kai (95.6 million streaming hours), season 2 of live-action Nickelodeon series adaptation Fate: The Winx Saga (49 million hours) and the local-language version of Narco Saints: Season 1 (62.7 million).
Since Netflix only reveals viewing data for full seasons of shows that finish in the top 10 on its rankings to English-language and non-English language series, we don't know many millions of hours of streaming seasons 3 and 4 contributed to the show's total last week.
Notably, creator Peter Morgan has shifted the key cast members of The Crown, aging up the actors as the story progresses. Season 5 will see Imelda Staunton take over as Elizabeth II for Olivia Colman, who starred in the role in seasons 3 and 4 ... and who took over the role from Claire Foy, who played the younger Queen in seasons 1 and 2.
Dominic West will take over for Josh O'Connor as Prince Charles, and Elizabeth Debicki will play Princess Diana with the storyline progressing to focus on the latter years of the pair's relationship.
