‘The Crown’ Creator Peter Morgan Says He “Dreaded” Writing Princess Diana Into The Show, Confirms He “Never” Planned To Show Her Death In Season 6

Recreating Princess Diana‘s fatal car crash for The Crown Season 6 was “never” a consideration for creator Peter Morgan. While speaking to Variety, he opened up about writing the beloved “People’s Princess” into the show — and how her tragic death will be addressed in its upcoming season.

The sixth and final season of The Crown is mere weeks away from releasing on Netflix. The first half is set to focus on the lead-up to the 1997 Paris car crash that killed Diana (Elizabeth Debicki) and her boyfriend Dodi Fayed (Khalid Abdalla), while the second half will hone in on Queen Elizabeth II (Imelda Staunton), Prince Charles (Dominic West) and both William and Harry.

There has been much speculation on how Morgan will present Diana’s death in the series. Sources close to production previously revealed the “certain anxiety” on-set just weeks before filming was set to take place in 2022, per Deadline. Others confirmed that the show will just portray “the run-up: the car leaving The Ritz after midnight with paparazzi in pursuit and then the aftermath.”

According to Morgan — who admitted he “dreaded writing Diana into the series, and even considered avoiding her entirely” — showing the actual car crash was never something producers planned to do.

 “Oh, God, we were never going to show the crash,” Morgan told Variety, which wrote that he sounded “shocked” at the thought. “Never.”

Aside from the crash, he also addressed rumors about “Diana’s ghost” paying Prince Charles and Queen Elizabeth II a visit following her death. The rumored scene reportedly finds Charles speaking to Diana on the plane as he transports her body from Paris to London, before she later shows up in front of her ex-mother-in-law.

“I never imagined it as Diana’s ‘ghost’ in the traditional sense,” Morgan said. “It was her continuing to live vividly in the minds of those she has left behind. Diana was unique, and I suppose that’s what inspired me to find a unique way of representing her. She deserved special treatment narratively.”

The Crown Season 6, Part 1 releases on Nov. 16 on Netflix.