Princess Diana’s fate in The Crown Season 6, Part 1 is no surprise, but the events leading up to her death still remain a mystery to some.
The final weeks of the late Princess of Wales’ life
Reprising her role in the final season of Peter Morgan’s groundbreaking series, Elizabeth Debicki’s portrayal explores the final weeks of the late Princess of Wales’ life.
Since the character’s introduction in Season 4, then played by Emma Corrin, Diana’s life has been far from a fairy tale.
Although her story ends in tragedy, the first four episodes of Season 6 tell of her whirlwind romance with Dodi Fayed (Khalid Abdalla), a film producer and the son of businessman Mohamed al-Fayed (Salim Daw).
‘It’s a really unique challenge as an actor to portray those days because we know where the story is going,’ Debicki says in the featurette above.
Adds Abdalla, ‘It’s not about knowing the ending. You know the ending. It’s about exploring as accurately as possible the tensions that bring you to that place.’
Debicki shares ‘more and more’s about the roles
Debicki shares that she couldn’t have done this final season without Abdalla as her co-star.
‘It was very difficult to re-create. It was heavy, manic, and incredibly invasive,’ she says of Diana and Dodi’s scenes with the paparazzi.
‘The media invasion into that relationship and the world’s attention on it, the way that Peter’s written it, so destabilizes their ability to keep connecting on that level.’
Because Diana had left her official royal life behind, she was no longer afforded the same respect and boundaries.
‘What emerged served to expose how the tornado of press coverage around them was often based on nothing more than speculation. It highlighted how such coverage had the power to shape and manipulate opinions,’ says Rani.
But, it’s through Diana and Dodi’s relationship that the show builds to the tragedy that everyone knows is to come.
