'The Crown': Netflix Adds 'Fictional Dramatization' Disclaimer to Show's Trailer Description

The change comes after several celebrities and political figures have spoken out.

The Crown has bowed to public pressure. As the popular Netflix royal drama prepares to release season 5 on Nov. 9, the streaming service has added a long-requested disclaimer to the show's trailer description. 

"Inspired by real events, this fictional dramatization tells the story of Queen Elizabeth II and the political and personal events that shaped her reign," the disclaimer reads. 

This is the first time a trailer for The Crown has featured such a disclaimer, though Netflix and the show's past cast members have previously been very open with the "fictionalized" nature of the series.

Netflix/YouTube

This new addition comes amid several public cries for The Crown to feature a disclaimer clarifying that the show is a fictional account and therefore not always historically accurate. 

This past week, Dame Judi Dench penned an open letter to the show's creators that was published in The Times of London, requesting a disclaimer. 

"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," the 87-year-old British actress wrote. 

Dench -- who portrayed Queen Victoria in the 1997 film Mrs. Brown and 2017's Victoria & Abdul, as well as Queen Elizabeth in 1998's Shakespeare In Love -- also wrote that "while many will recognize The Crown for the brilliant but fictionalized 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 is not the only public figure to speak out in recent weeks. Former U.K. Prime Minister John Major (1990-1997), responded over the weekend to rumors in the U.K. media that one of the plotlines in season 5 includes Prince Charles suggesting in 1991 he wanted Major's support to dethrone his mother, Queen Elizabeth II. Major called the depictions as a "barrel-load of nonsense."

ET's royal expert Katie Nicholl spoke about Dench's fervent letter, saying, "Dame Judi Dench has been incredibly outspoken about The Crown. She's called it 'cruelty unjust' and 'crude sensationalism,' which is, I think, a pretty damning verdict... I think she speaks for a lot of people who feel that this series really is just a little too close to the bone for comfort."

The Crown season 5 premieres Nov. 9 on Netflix. 

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