Season 1 of ‘The Crown’ Hits Netflix’s Top 10 List After Queen Elizabeth II’s Death

The Crown has found a new audience as the first season enters Netflix’s Top 10 after the death of Queen Elizabeth II.

Between Sept. 5 and 11, Netflix subscribers streamed 17.6 million hours of The Crown, bringing the historical drama’s first season to No. 7 on Netflix’s Top 10 English-language series chart, according to Variety.

“HRH Queen Elizabeth II was in the hearts and minds of viewers,” Netflix said in a statement, obtained by the outlet.

Other than The Crown, the Top 10 list featured Cobra Kai season 5 (sitting at No. 1 with 106 million hours), Devil in Ohio (No. 2 with 70.8 million), The Imperfects (No. 3 with 24.1 million), Dated and Related season 1 (No.4 with 19.8 million), The Sandman season 1 (No. 5 with 19.6 million), Partner Track (No. 6 with 18.2 million), Stranger Things season 4 (No. 8 with 16.6 million), Echoes: Limited Series (No. 9 with 14.3 million) and Manifest season 1 (No. 10 with 12.4 million), per Variety.

The Crown debuted on Netflix in 2016. Based on historical events, the series dramatizes the life story of Queen Elizabeth II, and the political and personal events that have shaped her reign, per Netflix’s synopsis.

The first season depicts the early life events of the British monarch up until 1955, including her marriage to Prince Philip and becoming the Queen upon her father’s death.

Claire Foy played the role of the Queen in the first two seasons of the series, earning an Emmy for outstanding lead actress in a drama series after season 2 in 2018. She also won the Emmy for outstanding guest actress in a drama series in 2021 when she returned to the show for a cameo in the fourth season.

Olivia Colman later assumed the role for season 3 and 4, portraying a middle-aged Queen Elizabeth. Like Foy, she was awarded an Emmy in the outstanding lead actress in a drama series category in 2021 for season 4 of the show.

Verity Russell has also portrayed a younger version of the monarch, playing the role of Princess Elizabeth in childhood flashbacks for season 1 and 3. Imelda Staunton is the latest to portray Her Majesty in the show’s fifth and sixth season.

Though Netflix previously announced the series would end after season 5, the streaming service later confirmed in July 2020 that the series would end after season 6 due to creator Peter Morgan changing his mind.

While the cast and crew were filming season 6, Buckingham Palace announced that Queen Elizabeth died “peacefully” in her Scottish home of Balmoral Castle at age 96 on Thursday.

As a result, Morgan told Deadline they would “stop filming out of respect” for the late monarch, even though the final season of the show was not expected to dramatize present-day events.

“The Crown is a love letter to [the Queen] and I’ve nothing to add for now, just silence and respect,” Morgan wrote in a statement that day. “I expect we will stop filming out of respect too.” (Variety later confirmed on Friday that season 6 production had halted.)

Director Stephen Daldry previously told Deadline the series has long had plans in place in the event of the historic monarch’s death.

“None of us know when that time will come but it would be right and proper to show respect to the Queen. It would be a simple tribute and a mark of respect. She’s a global figure and it’s what we should do,” he said after the Emmy-winning Netflix drama made its debut in 2016.