Dominic West; Prince Charles.Photo: David M. Benett/Dave Benett/Getty Images; Samir Hussein/WireImage

Dominic West; Prince Charles, Prince of Wales

Dominic West’s casting asPrince CharlesinThe Crowncame as a surprise — including to him.

The actor, 52, says he had major reservations about taking on the role in Netflix’s hit drama about the royal family.

“It’s quite disconcerting as I didn’t look anything like him when I looked in the mirror,” he told theDaily Mail. “I kept telling the producers that they had cast the wrong person.”

“But they explained that this was not a show of imitations,” he added. “But that was difficult as this is a real person who is hugely famous and recognizable.”

To complicate things further, West said that he’s metPrince Charles"a couple of times." In fact, West lives just 14 miles fromPrince Charles' country home of Highgrove, and West’s wife Catherine FitzGerald has a longstanding friendship withPrince Charlesgiven their shared passion for gardening.

Dominic West.Neil Mockford/GC Images

Wimbledon

And the show will be a family affair for West.Varietypreviously broke the news that the actor’s real-life sonSenan Westwill playPrince Williamin the series. The outlet reported that the newcomer will appear in the final episodes of season five after his audition tape “caught the attention of the show’s producers.”

Though season 5 was initially intended to be the series' curtain call, showrunnerschanged their mindsand assured that the historical drama will continue to rule Netflix queues fora 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.”

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Seasons 1 through 4 ofThe Crownare now streaming on Netflix. Season 5 is expected to premiere in November 2022.

source: people.com