The Crown will be written by Peter Morgan, who previously brought Elizabeth’s life to screen in The Queen and also penned Frost/Nixon, Rush, and The Last King Of Scotland. Director Stephen Daldry (Billy Elliot, The Hours) is also on board. The “epic” series will have a nearly $170 million budget.
While The Queen documented a specific moment in Elizabeth’s later years, this series will offer a more expansive view of her life. The Crown will start with her marriage to Prince Philip in 1947. According to The Daily Mail, the series will then “chronicle the private, political and social successes and upheavals that occurred during her decades as sovereign.”
Elizabeth was not born in direct royal succession. Instead—as documented in The King’s Speech—her father was only made King once his elder brother abdicated, when Elizabeth was just 10 years old. She became Queen at age 26 and, as the first female monarch since Queen Victoria, her reign has lasted through six decades and 12 U.S. presidents.