The end of The Crown on Netflix is hitting people pretty hard at the moment. The fact that its final season has played out means that we now won’t be able to watch the constant scandals of the British royal family unless we want to try to keep up with their exploits in the tabloids and newspapers... and who has time for all that?

Of course, if there is one thing that Netflix is good at, it's knowing how to milk a bit more content from their hit shows. It's why we’ve had a reality show version of Squid Game and it's why we’re getting a spin-off of Wednesday focusing on Uncle Fester. The streamer is always keen to keep making the shows that keep subscribers from canceling, so why wouldn’t they do that with The Crown?

It isn't like the royal family has stayed out of the headlines in the years since Charles and Camilla got married in the final scenes of The Crown. There are the lavish weddings between Prince William and Kate Middleton, whose relationship was seen in the show’s final season, and Harry and Meghan Markle, which would eventually lead to the Prince withdrawing from his family. And that isn’t even touching on the sex scandals of Prince Andrew, which came to light in 2019 and led to his own withdrawal from public roles in 2020.

Add in the death of Queen Elizabeth II in 2022 and the coronation of King Charles III in 2023 and you have plenty of material for at least one more season of The Crown, so why is Netflix stopping here? Many of these events are too current to properly dramatize. You can’t make a historical drama like The Crown without the benefit of hindsight to know what will be significant and which scandals the family will successfully weather. It is both irresponsible and doesn’t make for the kind of show people will watch for several years, which is what Netflix is aiming for.

So, we’re not going to assume that The Crown is gone forever. Not when there is still so much juicy gossip to cover. Instead, we’re taking a “wait and see” approach to it – you just never know what Netflix will try further down the line.

As the year wind downs, it's time to look back and all you've read and watched. Popverse has picked the best movies, best comics, and best TV shows of the year.

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