Netflix has reportedly given producers of the popular show, which controversially retold the royal family’s modern history, the green light to develop a prequel series.

The spinoff will begin with Queen Victoria’s death in 1901, according to the Daily Mailand cover the period up until the wedding of then-Princess Elizabeth (later Queen Elizabeth II) in 1947 – where season one of The Crown first picked up.

“Netflix has been locked in negotiations with the company for quite a long time about this spin-off series, but they’ve recently finally managed to seal the deal and come to an agreement,” an insider told the publication.

Elizabeth Debicki as Princess Diana in The Crown season five. Picture: Netflix

Claire Foy played the first version of Queen Elizabeth in the series. Picture: Netflix

Series creator Peter Morgan is understood to be returning as showrunner for the new chapter.

The Crown was one of Netflix’s most successful shows ever, scooping up 24 Emmy Awards across six seasons and launching the careers of a number of its cast.

It scored 18 Emmy nominations for its final season alone.

“Peter had already been putting pen to pad and casting is expected to take place next year,” the source added to the Mail.

Morgan had previously made clear he would only resurrect the show for a prequel, rather than focusing on the turbulent recent history of the royal family.

“For the time being, I cannot imagine any circumstances in which I’d want to go further into the present, as it were, but at the same time, I don’t think I’m done with the subject,” he told The Hollywood Reporter in 2024.

Meg Bellamy as Kate Middleton and Ed McVey as Prince William in the show’s final season. Picture: Netflix

“I might find some way of coming into it from a different way. If you go back in time, you always have that wonderful opportunity for metaphor.

“You can find a story in the past and tell that, and it [will] actually be a story about the present, but in camouflage. And that, I think, might be a more elegant way forward. To move forward from where I left the show off at the moment feels too soon.”

In the same interview, Morgan also weighed in on the conflicting reports of the real royal family’s reactions to the controversial series.

“I’ve heard that they love it, I’ve heard that they hate it, I’ve heard everything,” he admitted. “I’ve decided that until one of the members of the royal family tells me directly, in person, I won’t believe anything that I hear.”