[This story contains spoilers from part two, episode five of season six of The Crown, “Willsmania.”]
The sixth and final season of The Crown introduced two new actors to portray Prince William during his teen and young adult years. Rufus Kampa, who starred in part one, and Ed McVey in part two, replaced Senan West, who appeared as William in season five alongside his real father, Dominic West, who stars as Prince Charles in the Netflix series.
In “Willsmania” — episode five of part two of The Crown, which is now streaming — Prince Charles finds himself the target of his older son’s grief in the aftermath of Princess Diana’s (Elizabeth Debicki) death. The episode picks up after the first four episodes (which were released in November) brought viewers up to the week following Diana and Dodi Fayed’s (Khalid Abdalla) untimely deaths. The second half of the season, which consists of six episodes, opens with a spotlight on Charles and his grieving sons (Prince Harry is played by Luther Ford here.) And having to work through those emotionally charged scenes as a father himself was difficult, West tells The Hollywood Reporter.
“I’ve got two boys who are a bit younger than William was then and it was profound to think, what would it be like if my son accused me of being responsible for the death of his mother?” he says in the conversation below. “How would that feel, and how would you respond in a paternal way?”
Having a scene partner in McVey, for whom the part of William is his breakout television role, was “amazing” adds Dominic. Noting the two didn’t build a personal relationship on set so they could tap into the emotional distance between the royal father and son, the English actor admits that would’ve been a challenge had Senan continued on in the final season of the drama: “I was glad it wasn’t my son because it was my son last season, and I think that would have been too close for comfort.”
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It was interesting to read you say that you love crying, in The Crown production notes released from Netflix. Was there any trepidation, then, coming into this final season knowing how emotional it would be?
Oh, yeah, lots. I didn’t realize I’d said I love crying. I used to hate it. I used to dread it. And I certainly dreaded it on this. Peter [Morgan, creator] had Prince Charles howling with grief in the Scottish mountains and in the hospital in Paris. And I thought, “Really? I can’t imagine any royal howling or being that emotional”— even though I think Charles is very emotional. So I was very worried about those scenes because they can very easily look ridiculous and you suddenly think, “That’s not how he’d be.”
One of the more stirring scenes was when Princess Diana visits Prince Charles on his return flight from identifying her body. Elizabeth Debicki said you didn’t rehearse that conversation ahead of time. What was it like creating that interaction in the moment?
When you do a very emotional scene like that, it can be tricky. Because you often have to wait for the other actor, and then the camera turns around on you, or they do a long shot and then a close up, so you have to pace yourself. Because Christian [Schwochow], who’s a very good director, had a camera on each of us at the same time, and in close-up, we only did a take or two. I don’t really like rehearsing. I don’t know about Elizabeth, but we decided not to for that same reason. In those sorts of scenes, you’ve got the feeling there and it quickly goes away, and you don’t want that to happen.
Episode five, which explores an interesting chapter of Prince Charles and William’s father-son relationship after Princess Diana’s death, is one of EP Suzanne Mackie’s favorites. How did you feel about that episode?
I haven’t seen it yet, but I’ve got two boys who are a bit younger than William was then and it was profound to think, what would it be like if my son accused me of being responsible for the death of his mother? How would that feel, and how would you respond in a paternal way? How would you respond with unconditional love, and the guilt and what you feel? Peter [Morgan] is so good at mining what’s really deep and profound. And in a way, that scene was a sort of a justification against the accusations that Charles had, probably not only from his sons, but from the public generally, that he was in some way responsible. So I loved doing that scene. It was a great sort of cathartic scene as well as quite a challenge.
What was it like working with Ed McVey for what is his first big television role?
He was amazing. He’s done a lot of theater so he’s not entirely new to the scene, unlike Luther [Ford], who I don’t think had done anything before. And yet [Ed] was completely doing it instinctually and brilliantly. Ed is a very, very good actor in spite of his young age, and he gave me a hard time. We didn’t talk much to each other. We didn’t try and establish any kind of intimacy, because it’s not there on the page at this stage of their lives. I was glad it wasn’t my son, because it was my son last season and I think that would have been too close for comfort.
You’ve mentioned fighting for Prince Charles onscreen. How do you think you’ve honored him in this role?
I’m fighting for him as one does as an actor for any character, except perhaps the most villainous. Inevitably, you’re trying to get inside the mind of your character and that requires a sort of sense of common humanity and empathy, and you do feel a sympathy for him. I think that, particularly around Diana’s death, he was the villain of the piece. And I think perhaps now that we’ve had 25 years of retrospective to look back on, we might judge that — I certainly have judged that — as being a bit harsh on him.
You’ve also said that reading some of the bad and indifferent reviews to season five took some of the pressure off of you coming into season six. How so?
I read all the reviews, particularly the bad ones And it does put you in a depression. You think, “Ah, all that work.” I suppose the depressing ones are where the critic’s been lazy and hasn’t really bothered to think about it, but most critics take their job very seriously and realize the amount of work that went into this from everybody. And then a friend of mine in India texts me and says: A billion people are watching this in India and loving it. And we had a journalist from Colombia saying the same thing, and you realize this has affected a lot of people, and I think entertained an awful lot of people. It certainly did for my mother-in-law, who watched the first four episodes in one sitting and texted us and said, “It’s amazing!”
The series concludes with the wedding of Prince Charles and Camilla (played by Olivia Williams). What was it like recreating that moment in history?
Oh my god, it was amazing. I think it was probably better than the actual wedding. We were in York Minster, this huge cathedral in Yorkshire. There was a full orchestra, a full choir, two dozen ornamental bay trees. And I remember walking down the aisle with Olivia Williams, who plays Camilla, and 400 extras bowing as we walked past, and I thought, “This is it; it doesn’t get any better than this.”
On the final day, the last shot — actually, of the whole season — was the end of our wedding in the registry office. And we come out, and there was a jazz band playing, and the same 400 extras waving flags with our faces on them. And the AD calls the series wrap, and you’re conscious then that the crew members there have been through all six seasons and what a momentous occasion that was and how lucky I felt to be part of it, to be honest. Because it was an amazing show, which I think set a new standard in terms of how many very talented people worked very hard to bring new levels of excellence.
The entire sixth and final season of The Crown is now streaming on Netflix.
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