'The Crown' Casts Dominic West's Real-Life Son to Play Young Prince William

Dominic West was previously revealed to be playing Prince Charles in the Netflix hit

Prince William and Prince Charles. Photo: Tim Graham Photo Library via Getty

A real-life father and son will be playing Prince Charles and Prince William in the next season of The Crown.

Dominic West was previously announced to take over the role of Prince Charles as the Netflix hit ages the characters in season 5 of the Netflix drama about the British royal family. On Wednesday, Variety broke the news that the actor's 13-year-old son Senan West will play Prince William in the series.

The outlet reports that the newcomer will appear in the final episodes of season five after his audition tape "caught the attention of the show's producers."

Prince William was just 15 years old when his mother Princess Diana (played in the new season by Elizabeth Debicki) died in 1997 along with her partner Dodi Al Fayed, who will be portrayed by The Kite Runner actor Khalid Abdalla on The Crown.

Elizabeth Debicki and Dominic West. Splash News/Backgrid

Debicki has already been seen filming with child actors Timothee Sambor and Teddy Hawley, who are portraying Princess Diana's two sons, Prince William and Prince Harry, as young boys.

Scenes being filmed in Palma de Mallorca, Spain, appear to recreate a family trip to Italy the royals took in 1991 — a trip that many believe signaled a breaking point for Charles and Diana's fractured marriage (they separated in December 1992 and finalized their divorce in August 1996).

As more images from set are released, it seems that The Crown's penultimate season will present a dramatized version of the Princess of Wales coming into her own as a global icon as she stepped away from her turbulent marriage. During this time, she was navigating co-parenting with Charles and facing intense scrutiny as she found her voice, both as an activist and as a woman.

Elisabeth Debicki and Dominic West Filming The Crown In Mallorca. BACKGRID - Joan Llado / GTres / SplashNews.com

Though season 5 was initially intended to be the series' curtain call, showrunners changed their minds and assured that the historical drama will continue to rule Netflix queues for a final, sixth season.

"As we started to discuss the storylines for Series 5, it soon became clear that in order to do justice to the richness and complexity of the story we should go back to the original plan and do six seasons," creator Peter Morgan said in July 2020. "To be clear, Series 6 will not bring us any closer to present-day — it will simply enable us to cover the same period in greater detail."

Season 6 will take the royals to the early 2000s; though the future Duke and Duchess of Cambridge met at St. Andrew's around then, a character channeling Kate Middleton is not expected to grace the small screen.

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Seasons 1 through 4 of The Crown are now streaming on Netflix. Season 5 is expected to premiere in November 2022.