AFI FEST Will Honor ‘The Crown’ and Peter Morgan With Starry Season 3 Premiere Gala

Ryan Lattanzio

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A day before the Emmy-anointed Netflix series debuts on Netflix, “The Crown” will be celebrated with a high-profile gala presentation at the 2019 edition of AFI FEST on November 16. Dubbed “An Evening With Peter Morgan,” the fete will feature a conversation with the Oscar- and Emmy-nominated writer and producer in tribute to his tony career as creator of the landmark historical drama series. The event will screen the Season 3 premiere episode, which drops on Netflix November 17.

Joining Morgan onstage at the TCL Chinese Theatre in Los Angeles will be series stars Olivia Colman (taking the throne from Claire Foy this season), as well as Tobias Menzies (Prince Philip), Helena Bonham Carter (Princess Margaret), Josh O’Connor (Prince Charles), and Erin Doherty (Princess Anne).

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“Peter Morgan has an unmatched talent in creating some of the most engaging historical dramas,” said Michael Lumpkin, AFI festivals director. “With the bold and brilliant move of introducing a new cast for Season 3 of ‘The Crown,’ Morgan takes us deeper into the politics, pageantry and personalities of the British royal family.”

In recent years, AFI FEST has made room for Netflix series presentations among its galas, showing the streamer’s continued and impressive reign in Hollywood. (Its awards-season juggernaut, “The Irishman,” will be playing down the street in Hollywood at the Egyptian Theatre, unrelated to the festival but through its opening night.) Last year, Netflix debuted “The Kominsky Method” at AFI FEST.

“The Crown” isn’t AFI FEST’s only spotlight on streaming titles this year. As previously announced, the LA festival will close with the world premiere of Apple TV+’s racial-justice drama “The Banker.”

Meanwhile, the festival will open with the world premiere of director Melina Matsoukas’ “Queen & Slim,” which also tackles racial injustice, on November 14. Clint Eastwood’s “Richard Jewell” will also be bowing for the first time at the festival, which recently unveiled a World Cinema sidebar that includes a handful of foreign Oscar submissions, Terrence Malick’s “A Hidden Life,” and more. This year, the festival is also devoting an entire section to documentaries, adding a west coast presence to the American Film Institute’s already robust documentary footprint on the east coast with the AFI DOCS festival.

AFI FEST runs through November 21.

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