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Princess Diana\u2019s impending death looms over the first three episodes of The Crown<\/em>\u2019s sixth and last season<\/a>, which creep through the weeks leading up to her fatal car crash<\/a> in Paris. There\u2019s her controversial trip to St.-Tropez with Prince William<\/strong> and Prince Harry;<\/strong> her continuing cat and mouse game<\/a> with press<\/a>; her final vacation<\/a> with fling Dodi Fayed; and her frightening<\/a> car chases with frenzied paparazzi.<\/p>\n \u201cThere are so many layers to shooting a season like this,\u201d says Elizabeth Debicki<\/strong><\/a>,<\/strong> who brought Diana to eerie life in season five, and who reimagines her last moments in season six. \u201cThe interpretation [of Diana\u2019s final weeks] carries a historical weight that is very real for many people, but you\u2019re doing an imagining of it,\u201d she says, referencing series mastermind Peter Morgan,<\/strong> who has written every episode of the drama\u2019s six seasons. \u201cThat complexity led me, as an actor, to go really into the micro moments.\u201d<\/p>\n The Australian actor explains that she chose to \u201cplay against an ending that was this inevitable tragedy.\u201d She portrayed Diana across seven years of her life and says that her research of the royal led her to \u201cseek out moments where there was this joy, this confidence, this sense of freedom\u201d to Diana.\u00a0<\/p>\n Part of the tragedy of the real-life Diana\u2019s death is that, at the age of 36, the princess was finally hitting her stride after years of insecurity. But then again, says Debicki, \u201cthere was a massive evolution in so many areas of her life\u201d in those final months.<\/p>\n Ahead, Debicki walks VF<\/em> through filming the princess\u2019s last days\u2014discussing Diana\u2019s leopard-print PR revenge, her uncertainty playing \u201cghost Diana,\u201d and what she was thinking while filming the late royal\u2019s final moments.<\/p>\n Vanity Fair:<\/strong><\/em> What evolutions did you see in Diana between<\/strong> The Crown<\/strong><\/em>\u2019s fifth and sixth seasons?<\/strong><\/p>\n Elizabeth Debicki:<\/em> One of them was a sense of, what are her priorities now? What does life look like now that she is not an HRH<\/a> inside the royal family? What does that mean in terms of how she can relate to people and move through the world? And also obviously the humanitarian work that ended up happening off the back of the divorce. Suddenly she seemed to be more free, albeit she faced lots of backlash to these courageous decisions about doubling down on her humanitarian work. There\u2019s a confidence\u2026the choices that are being made seem to be coming from a genuine and slightly freer place inside of her.<\/p>\n