The Crown will come to an end after its fifth series - with a new actress to take on the role of the leading lady in its final episodes.
Imelda Staunton will replace Olivia Colman as the Queen, Netflix has announced.
The 64-year-old actress said she is "genuinely honoured" to be starring in the royal drama as it reaches its conclusion.
While viewers may have expected a sixth season, it will now miss modern-day scandals including Prince Andrew's relationship with Jeffrey Epstein and Prince Harry and Meghan Markle standing down as senior royals.
Staunton will be the third actress to play Her Majesty, following Claire Foy - who starred in series one and two - and Olivia Colman - who made her debut in November 2019 but will step down at the end of season four, which covers 1977 to 1990.
Peter Morgan, the show's writer and creator, confirmed that the timeline of the fifth series will reach the 2000s as he said: "I'm absolutely thrilled to confirm Imelda Staunton as Her Majesty The Queen for the fifth and final season, taking The Crown into the 21st century.
"Imelda is an astonishing talent and will be a fantastic successor to Claire Foy and Olivia Colman."
Staunton, best known for her roles in Vera Drake and the Harry Potter film series, previously played the Queen in the 2003 TV series Cambridge Spies.
She said: "I have loved watching The Crown from the very start. As an actor it was a joy to see how both Claire Foy and Olivia Colman brought something special and unique to Peter Morgan's scripts.
"I am genuinely honoured to be joining such an exceptional creative team and to be taking The Crown to its conclusion."
Netflix has previously revealed that more than 73 million households have streamed at least part of the show since it first launched in November 2016.
The post to the online-streaming service's Twitter account on Friday simply said: "Imelda Staunton will play Queen Elizabeth II in the fifth and final season of The Crown."
It has since accumulated thousands of likes, retweets and comments.
Fans in reply to the tweet appear to be struggling with there not being a season six, with replies including: "No you're not cancelling The Crown until Meghan Markle wins an Emmy for her role as Meghan Markle".
"NOOOOOO WE NEED MORE STORIES PETER MORGAN NO", said another.
And another Twitter-user shared: "You must be kidding, the British monarchy is full of drama, enough to make at least 20 season or more of THE CROWN".
