With Humayun Saeed still not in sight, ‘The Crown 5' trailer shows the Royal family in crisis

The latest season, depicting the British monarchs navigating massive turmoil, will release on November 9

The dramatic trailer for the much-anticipated season 5 of Netflix’s royal drama The Crown dropped on Thursday. While the clip is seemingly chaotic in all its exquisite ways, the latest season will depict the “most challenging” era for the British family. However, Pakistani fans are a tad bit disappointed to not see a glimpse of our very own Humayun Saeed as Dr Hasnat in the trailer. Perhaps we’ll just have to wait longer.

The little-less-than-three-minutes trailer wastes no time and cuts straight to the chase: Royal family in crisis, for not one reason but many. Princess Diana (Elizabeth Debicki) and Prince Charles (Dominic West) are getting a divorce, the world is changing dramatically as television evolves and with that, the role of the monarchy in the modern world comes into question.

As the 40th anniversary of Queen Elizabeth II's accession approaches, she reflects on the nine prime ministers she had so far, the advent of mass television, the 24-hour news cycle and what is described as "the twilight of the British Empire."

From glimpses of how Charles convinces the queen to divorce Diana to how the latter was harassed and scrutinised by the paparazzi until she decides to break from family protocol and publish a book that undermines public support of Charles and exposes the cracks in the House of Windsor.

While it shows the “People’s Princess” in tears believing she “never stood a chance” against the Royals, it looks like the season will also make a point of showing how she really fought to have some control over her own narrative as it concludes with her game-changing interview with the BBC where she blatantly stated she “wouldn’t go quietly.”

‘The Crown’ uses ‘crude sensationalism’

British actor Judi Dench has called on Netflix to add a disclaimer to the royal drama The Crown, joining a chorus of voices criticising the series' fictionalised storylines.

In a letter to The Times on Thursday, the 87-year-old veteran said as the award-winning show approached present times "the more freely it seems willing to blur the lines between historical accuracy and crude sensationalism"

"While many will recognise The Crown for the brilliant but fictionalised account of events that it is, I fear that a significant number of viewers, particularly overseas, may take its version of history as being wholly true," Dench wrote. Dench has portrayed historical queens Elizabeth I and Queen Victoria on screen as well as James Bond's boss "M".

Netflix says The Crown, which follows the reign of the late Queen Elizabeth over the decades, is "fictional dramatisation", inspired by real events. Its fifth season, in which a new cast will portray the royal family in the 1990s, premieres on November 9, two months after King Charles ascended the throne.

"No one is a greater believer in artistic freedom than I, but this cannot go unchallenged... the programme-makers have resisted all calls for them to carry a disclaimer at the start of each episode," Dench wrote. "The time has come for Netflix to reconsider — for the sake of a family and a nation so recently bereaved, as a mark of respect to a sovereign who served her people so dutifully for 70 years, and to preserve its reputation in the eyes of its British subscribers."

Dench's letter follows other criticism, including a statement from former Prime Minister John Major's office to the Daily Mail calling a new scene a "barrel load of nonsense". A Netflix representative did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The Crown season 5 will premiere on November 9 with a new cast and characters depicting a time of massive turmoil.