How to watch The Crown season 4 online: Release date, cast, trailer and reviews

It's time for a clash of the female titans as we watch The Crown season 4 online — as the series' latest installment just released its latest batch. The award-winning Netflix drama returns with two new, very famous characters to rival Queen Elizabeth II — Princess Diana and Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. 

The Crown season 4 brings back Olivia Colman as the monarch and adds Emma Corrin as the Princess of Wales and Gillian Anderson as the first-ever female British PM. Both women clash with the queen as they become household names and history book figures. 

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The new season covers the time period between 1977 and 1990, which includes the courtship and fairy tale wedding between Prince Charles (Josh O'Connor) and the shy, young nursery school teacher Lady Diana Spencer. Later, the newlyweds tour  Australia and New Zealand and welcome sons Prince William and Prince Harry.

The contentious relationship between Queen Elizabeth II and Thatcher will provide a ton of conflict, as they clash over everything from Britain's disastrous economy to the Falklands War.

There are plenty of juicy stories for other royal family members, such as the downward spiral of Princess Margaret (Helena Bonham Carter) following her divorce from husband Antony Armstrong-Jones (Ben Daniels).

Here's everything you need to know about how to watch The Crown season 4 on Netflix.

How to watch The Crown season 4 from anywhere, with a VPN

If you're away from home, in a country with geo-restrictions that won't let you watch The Crown season 4, you don't need to miss out. It's pretty easy with the right VPN (virtual private network) to stream the show from wherever you go.

Our pick for the best VPN is ExpressVPN. It meets the VPN needs of the vast majority of users, offering outstanding compatibility with most devices and impressive connection speeds. You'll even get an extra 3 months free if you sign up for a year, or there's a 30-day money-back guarantee if you just want to give it a try.

Our favorite VPN service, ExpressVPN, really shines thanks to its safety, speed and simplicity-to-use. It's also compatible with loads of devices - from iOS and Android to Roku, Apple TV and PlayStations.

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How to watch The Crown season 4 in the US, UK and Canada

All 10 episodes of The Crown season 4 are out now, having been released by Netflix on Sunday, November 15 at 3:01 a.m. ET / 8 a.m. GMT.

The Crown is just one of many TV shows and movies offered on Netflix. The streaming service has a huge library of licensed content, but it's really earned its spot as the best streaming service with all of their buzzy original series, including The Queen's Gambit, Sex Education, The Witcher and Stranger Things.

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The Crown season 4 trailer

Netflix's official, full-length trailer for The Crown season 4 starts with Margaret Thatcher speaking to Queen Elizabeth "woman to woman." 

Later, Prince Philip muses, "Two women running the shop — that's the last thing this country needs." But Elizabeth counters, "Perhaps that's precisely what this country needs." You tell him, ma'am!

An earlier teaser trailer opens with a glimpse of Diana Spencer, who goes to marry Prince Charles and become the Princess of Wales. "Here is the stuff of which fairy tales are made," someone intones. Of course, we all know that this tale did not end happily ever after.

The Crown season 4 cast

The cast of The Crown season 4 is led by Oscar winner Olivia Colman as Queen Elizabeth II. 

Other major Crown cast members include:

• Tobias Menzies as Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, the queen's husband
• Helena Bonham Carter as Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon, Elizabeth's younger sister
• Ben Daniels as Antony Armstrong-Jones, Earl of Snowdon, Princess Margaret's husband
• Marion Bailey as Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, Elizabeth and Margaret's mother
• Josh O'Connor as Prince Charles, the Prince of Wales, Philip and Elizabeth's eldest child and heir apparent
• Erin Doherty as Princess Anne, Philip and Elizabeth's second child and only daughter
• Gillian Anderson as Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, leader of the Conservative party
• Emma Corrin as Lady Diana Spencer, daughter of Earl Spencer and later Princess of Wales
• Emerald Fennell as Camilla Parker Bowles, ex-girlfriend of Prince Charles
• Charles Dance as Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma, Philip's uncle
• Tom Byrne as Prince Andrew, Philip and Elizabeth's third child
• Jessica Aquilina as Sarah Ferguson, Andrew's wife-to-be
• Angus Imrie as Prince Edward, Philip and Elizabeth's youngest child

The Crown season 4 episodes

The Crown season 4 consists of 10 episodes. Here are the episode titles, writers and directors. 

Episode 1: "Gold Stick"
Writer: Peter Morgan; Director: Benjamin Caron

Episode 2: "The Balmoral Test"
Writer: Peter Morgan; Director: Paul Whittington

Episode 3: "Fairytale"
Writer: Peter Morgan; Director: Benjamin Caron

Episode 4: "Favourites"
Writer: Peter Morgan; Director: Paul Whittington

Episode 5: "Fagan"
Writer: Jonathan D. Wilson and Peter Morgan; Director: Paul Whittington

Episode 6: "Terra Nullius"
Writer: Peter Morgan; Director: Julian Jarrold

Episode 7: "The Hereditary Principle"
Writer: Peter Morgan; Director: Jessica Hobbs

Episode 8: "48:1"
Writer: Peter Morgan; Director: Julian Jarrold

Episode 9: "Avalanche"
Writer: Peter Morgan; Director: Jessica Hobbs

Episode 10: "War"
Writer: Peter Morgan; Director: Jessica Hobbs

The Crown season 4 reviews

The Crown season 4 reviews are very positive. Here's a roundup of what the TV critics are saying:

Vulture: "Together, Thatcher and Diana give The Crown an energy and a sense of direction it lacked in the third season, and a feeling of verve the show has arguably never approached before. In the writing and in the performances, there is this sense that everyone involved has finally gotten to the good stuff, and they’re all pleased as punch about it."

The Hollywood Reporter: "Creator Peter Morgan and his writers remain impressive in their ability to condense national events into dramatically compelling crises-of-the-week and flesh out real-life personages through just a few scenes (though, deliciously, the show doesn’t bother to do so for sniveling princelings Andrew and Edward)."

The Atlantic: "... in its sharp and splashy fourth season, the show finally criticizes Elizabeth for her ignorance, characterizing her as a ruler whose stubborn devotion to tradition makes her and her family out-of-touch fools caught off guard by change. Yes, fools: Throughout Season 4, The Crown ridicules the royals, mocking their entitlement. "

IndieWire: "With the addition of Thatcher, played to gritty, galling Iron Lady perfection by Gillian Anderson, and Diana, a near-impossible role that Emma Corrin makes look effortless without descending into hagiography, The Crown gives a riveting look at a decade that codified callous excess in the characters’ public and private lives."

The Guardian (UK): "... this is The Crown at its best, jumping from beautiful location to beautiful location like an episode of Countryfile with a jaw-dropping budget. All of the drama of the 1980s bubbles away underneath, and its soapiness rarely jars like it once did. It is a delicious stage for brilliant actors to do their best work. "

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