The Crown newcomer Elizabeth Debicki has responded to the controversy already surrounding the upcoming series.
The actor is currently gearing up for the release of the fifth season of the award-winning Netflix drama, in which she’s set to take over the role of Princess Diana from Emma Corrin.
While anticipation for the new series is high, the show has already come under fire from some critics due to its fictionalised depiction of real events.
Some critics – including former prime minister John Major, who is played in the show by Jonny Lee Miller – have argued The Crown does not make it clear enough that the show is intended as a work of fiction, with a disclaimer highlighting this fact having recently been added to the season five trailer.
Speaking to Radio Times, Elizabeth said she hopes that people can “maybe stop talking about it and move on” now this disclaimer has been added.
“I respect people’s points of view and I, being an actor in the show, understand the nature of what the show is,” she explained.
“It was always very clear to me that one can never know what happens behind closed doors, and that a writer is interpreting what may have happened.”
Elizabeth continued: “It’s a tricky thing to speak about because I would like people to watch it and make up their own minds.
“There’s a huge amount of room for interpretation, and that’s the value and beauty of The Crown as well, that you receive a different message depending on who you are. That’s good drama to me.”
Elsewhere in the interview, Elizabeth also spoke about the “enormous pressure” of playing a real-life figure as iconic as Diana.
“I was thinking I was completely mad for trying to do this,” she recalled. “My sister would find me staring at the sink full of dishes and would go, ‘Oh, my God, what’s wrong?’ and I’d say, ‘I can’t do it. I don’t know how to do it’.”
She added: “It feels insurmountable until the scripts get delivered to you and the entire process begins.”
Among The Crown’s more prolific critics is Oscar winner Dame Judi Dench, who recently penned an opinion piece admonishing the show for its “crude sensationalism” she insisted “cannot go unchallenged”.
Shortly after this, cast member Sir Jonathan Pryce – who plays Prince Philip in the new series – spoke out to defend the show, as well as voicing his disappointment at “fellow artistes” for criticising it.
The Crown season five arrives on Netflix on Wednesday 9 November. Read Elizabeth Debicki’s interview in full in the new issue of Radio Times, on sale now.