COSTUMES
Amy Roberts
Elizabeth Debicki and Rufus Kampa behind the scenes
The immaculate costumes of The Crown have been revered — and Emmy-nominated — across the series’ first five seasons, and the sixth is no exception. Designer Amy Roberts, who has been nominated each season since she joined the crew in Season 3 (and won that same year), finds that crafting looks for the royal family has become second nature. “It’s almost instinctive: If we go to a fabric shop you just feel it,” she explains. “You think, That’s the queen, that’s Margaret, that’s where she is now.”
MAKEUP
Cate Hall
Behind the scenes with Elizabeth Debicki
Makeup artist and hair designer Cate Hall, who has earned three Emmy nominations for her work on The Crown, has accomplished the difficult task of transforming actors into well-known royal figures. “I would argue that authenticity has as much to do with the sensation of truth and a feeling of believable characterization,” says Hall. “Authenticity is about doing enough to transport the audience and being accurate so that you are faithful to the original character.”
CINEMATOGRAPHY
Adriano Goldman
Behind the scenes with Elizabeth Debicki
Cinematographer Adriano Goldman has captured some of the most iconic shots of The Crown across all six seasons, winning two Emmys and three additional nominations along the way. But the last season brings one of the series’ most memorable shots of all when, in the closing moment of the finale, audiences watch as Queen Elizabeth walks through the sunlit nave of York Cathedral. After trying to use a dolly, Goldman found a solution to achieve his exquisite final frames. “We managed to get to the mezzanine where the organ is at York Cathedral, and that’s a single camera, a single take.”
PRODUCTION DESIGN
Martin Childs
Behind the scenes with Dominic West
Across his work on every season of The Crown, production designer Martin Childs has been celebrated for creating the ornate spaces in which the series’ royal characters reside. Designing for the final season brought a new sense of freedom for the two-time Emmy winner. “Designing Season 6 was hugely liberating,” recalls Childs. “Knowing there would be no Season 7 meant I could safely use ideas that had been brewing for the better part of a decade. It was like being able to publish a box set of B-sides and rarities.”
SCORE
Martin Phipps
Seven-time Emmy nominee Martin Phipps has written the music for Peter Morgan’s production for many seasons, and the composer points to the series’ thoughtful usage of score as impacting the series. “In The Crown, we use less score and when we do use it, we try and make it count. We really want to make sure you notice it when it comes in. It’s not just a posh wallpaper to ease you through; it has something to say.”
CASTING
Robert Sterne
The queen and her royal brood
Casting director Robert Sterne was gifted with a unique task in his work on The Crown: needing to completely recast each lead character every two seasons as the timeline progresses. His dedication to finding the right fit for each role has launched careers for actors like Josh O’Connor and Emma Corrin and led legends like John Lithgow and Gillian Anderson to further acclaim — as well as landing Sterne two Emmy wins across his five nominations.
VFX
Ben Turner
Behind the scenes of "Willsmania"
With three Emmy nominations for his V.F.X. work on The Crown, Ben Turner has experience building out the period drama in postproduction. Episode 3 of the series’ final season proved one of the designer’s biggest challenges, with its scenes in and around the Ritz in Paris. “The art department built a partial set, the doorway, on the backlot at Elstree Studios. The rest of the enormous square was created in 3D by our team, using extensive lidar scanning and photography of the real location in Paris,” says Turner.
SOUND
Lee Walpole
Behind the scenes with Khalid Abdalla
Lee Walpole, who was twice Emmy-nominated before for his work as a sound editor and mixer on The Crown, brought his talents to the final season of the regal series, most notably in the episode “Ritz,” which centers on Princess Margaret. In The Crown, Margaret’s world has often featured great, crowded parties with plenty of music. “Ritz” places her back in that familiar setting, but as she begins to suffer strokes, the sounds around her become muffled, as if underwater, bringing the viewer into her sensory experience.
EDITING
Simon Brasse
Editor Simon Brasse used his tools to further the emotional beats in “Willsmania,” the fifth episode of The Crown’s final season. The editing is especially moving when Phillip watches from a distance as his son, Charles, and grandson, William, share an emotional embrace after a period of friction, and the scene cuts from a close up of the septuagenarian Phillip’s face to a sepia-toned clip of himself embracing a young Charles, allowing the audience to access the memory as Phillip does in real time.
