Netflix’s smash hit series The Crown looks poised to return as a miniseries or a movie following the huge success of the streaming service’s film about Prince Andrew, Scoop.
The one-off drama starring Gillian Anderson as Newsnight host Emily Maitlis and Rufus Sewell as the disgraced Duke of York, is believed to have reminded execs how much of a draw the royals are to its streaming platform.
According to The Sun, Netflix bosses are now in the early stages of planning new instalments of The Crown.
It’s thought that Netflix are likely to begin with “bite-size helpings”, starting with the reign of Edward VII, who was the only 20th Century king not to have featured in the series.
A TV insider told The Sun: “The consensus was that the royal drama seemed to wane the closer it came to modern day and retelling multiple stories that so many were familiar with.
“But Scoop showed that rather than doing this in a drawn-out, ten-part series, focusing instead on one moment in time seemed to hook people.
“If they can repeat that pattern by delivering prequels in a shorter form, they believe they may have come up with a winning formula for a new incarnation of The Crown.”
Like Prince Andrew, King Edward VII was considered a playboy, both as Prince of Wales under his mother Queen Victoria and as monarch from 1901 to 1910.
He was always surrounded by scandal, largely due to the 55 affairs he’s believed to have had, including his most famous with Queen Camilla’s great, great grandmother, Alice Keppel.
The womaniser and gambler had to give evidence in court as a witness after playing in an illegal card game and his son, the Duke of Clarence, was once rumoured to be infamous serial killer Jack the Ripper.
Previously, The Crown already featured major flashbacks to the Edwardian era.
Series one and two featured the 1936 abdication of Edward VIII, played by Alex Jennings, which led to the reign of George VI, played by Jared Harris. The fifth series featured George V, played by Richard Dillane, during the Russian revolution of 1917.
Throughout the years it aired, The Crown – which was created by Peter Morgan and produced by Left Bank Pictures – sparked controversy after critics slammed the show’s writers for taking liberties how historical events were portrayed.