Netflix’s The Crown rumoured to be returning to screens amid Scoop success

One of our favourite Netflix shows could be returning to the screen amid reports that another royal flick inspired its reboot.

Historical drama series The Crown could be making a comeback in a new format, following the wide-ranging success of the Netflix film Scoop.

The award-winning film, which was inspired by Prince Andrew’s disastrous Newsnight interview, drew in nearly 2.8 million viewers in the United Kingdom alone.

Now, off the back of the movie’s success, it has been rumoured that The Crown may return, but in a slightly different format, Metro reports.

The royal drama ran for six seasons between 2016 and 2023 to great acclaim, bringing to the screen the life and reign of the late Queen Elizabeth II.

Along with a star-studded cast, which featured the likes of Olivia Colman, Matt Smith, Claire Foy and Dominic West, The Crown also had a hand in launching the careers of exciting new stars such as Josh O’Connor and Elizabeth Debicki.

Now, following the positive response to both Scoop and The Crown, which landed multiple Emmys and Baftas during its run, it has been reported that the Netflix series’ makers are looking at reviving the show as a mini-series or one-off format for multiple spinoffs.

An idea that has reportedly been floated with the show’s writers is a storyline potentially following King Edward VII’s reign, between 1901 and 1910, as a one-season mini-series.

“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,” an insider told The Sun.

“But Scoop showed that rather than doing this in a drawn-out, 10-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.”

Edward VII, who was the son of Queen Victoria, was the only British monarch from the 20th century not brought to the screen in The Crown, however, his life would certainly provide plenty of material for a spinoff.

His time as the Prince of Wales and heir to the throne, which spanned 60 years, earned him a reputation as a playboy. Known to live a leisurely lifestyle and entertain many mistresses - as many as 55 - he was regarded as quite the royal bachelor.

Some of the women he is known to have been involved with include actresses Sarah Bernhardt and Lillie Langtry, as well as Lady Susan Vane-Tempest and longtime lover Alice Keppel.

What’s more, in a divine twist of coincidence, Keppel’s great-granddaughter is our current Queen, Camilla, whose own affair with her now-husband, King Charles, featured heavily in The Crown.

This article was first published by the NZ Herald and is republished here with permission.