THE ROYAL FULL CAST
You Should See Me In 'The Crown'
Season 3 of Netflix’s royal biopic The Crown drops on November 17 with a complete overhaul of the show’s acclaimed cast. Olivia Colman and Tobias Menzies take over as the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh as the drama moves into the mid-20th century. Show-runner Peter Morgan confirmed in an interview with Entertainment Weekly there will be less focus on QEII’s and Prince Phillip’s relationship and more on the breakdown of the marriage of Princess Margaret and Lord Snowdon. Morgan added that Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles will also be a focus of the new season. Let’s take a closer look at the cast of The Crown.
OLIVIA COLMAN
Olivia Colman steps in as Queen Elizabeth II, replacing Claire Foy who has an Emmy and Golden Globe win for best actress as QEII. No doubt the expectations will be high for Colman who won an Oscar for her portrayal of Queen Anne in The Favourite. In a post-Oscar interview Colman said there is no comparison between the two, “they both have the word ‘queen’ in the title but that’s it, that’s where it ends.” To prepare for her role as Her Majesty, Colman had to learn how to walk, talk and sit like the Monarch. She told Harper’s Bazaar, “I have no physical awareness. I walk a bit like a farmer, one of the directors said.” Colman as the reigning queen will embrace change in the new season, but one thing that will likely stay the same, her beloved corgis.
HELENA BONHAM CARTER
Helena Bonham Carter, known for her eccentric style and her roles in both independent films and world-wide blockbusters, replaces Vanessa Kirby as the wild and unpredictable Princess Margaret. In January 2018, Kirby took to Instagram with a photo of herself and Carter and the caption “honoured.” Carter was intense in her preparation for the role. She read all the biographies, talked to friends of the princess, ladies-in-waiting and a psychic. That’s right…a psychic. Carter consulted one to channel Princess Margaret’s blessing. It was first reported in The Guardian that Carter told the Cheltenham Literature Festival that Princess Margaret spoke to her and was glad she was chosen for the part. Carter remarked that Princess Margaret also said, “You’re going to have to brush up and be more groomed and neater. Get the smoking right. I smoked in a very particular way. Remember that-this is a big note-the cigarette holder was as much a weapon for expression as it was for smoking.” Fingers crossed Princess Margaret won’t be disappointed.
TOBIAS MENZIES
You may know Tobias Menzies from his roles in Outlander and Game of Thrones, but now Matt Smith passes the baton to Menzies as he takes over the role of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. Menzies is no stranger to regal roles. He played Brutus in HBO’s Rome and Edmure Tully in Game of Thrones and just wrapped the role of the Duke of Cornwall in King Lear with Anthony Hopkins and Emma Thompson. In season 4 of The Crown, the Duke’s marriage to the Queen appears more settled and his current issues are more existential than marital. Peter Morgan, the drama’s writer and showrunner, says Prince Philip’s midlife crisis will revolve around his thoughts of “What have I done with my life?” Tobias told Entertainment Weekly he’s never taken much interest in the royal family, but he says, “I’ve certainly found Philip a lot more interesting than maybe I knew, because of his childhood and his journey, that he’s an outsider, he’d done an interesting job of carving out his position.”
JOSH O’CONNOR
Josh O’Connor star of the British comedy series, The Durrells, joins the cast as Charles, Prince of Wales. Season’s 3 and 4 are set to illustrate some of the most turbulent times for the Prince. In an interview with the Evening Standard Magazine, O’Connor reveals it wasn’t easy to take on the role of the royal who stands next in line for the throne. “I think the first thing I learned is that it’s totally impossible to replicate the real man.” But he says he has “the ears for the part.”
EMERALD FENNELL
Best known for her role as Nurse Patsy Mount in Call The Midwife, Emerald Fennell joins the cast of The Crown as Camilla Parker Bowles, the Duchess of Cornwall. The series will include story lines of Charles’s early relationship with Parker Bowles, whom he met 10-years before marrying his first wife, Diana Spencer. Season 3 will follow the royal family into the ‘70s and will recreate the famous moment when Charles and Camilla reconnect at a polo match in 1975. If you’re not familiar with this bit of history, the two had dated in 1971 before Charles left for his naval service. In 1973, Camilla married Andrew Parker Bowles. Fennell said in a statement, “I absolutely love Camilla, and am very grateful that my teenage years have well prepared me for playing a chain-smoking serial snogger with a pudding bowl haircut.”
EMMA CORRIN
23-year old Emma Corrin plays Lady Diana Spencer. While she is officially part of the cast, viewers won’t see her character until season 4. Corrin is a recent graduate of Cambridge and, so far, has only one TV credit for an episode of ITV’s Grantchester. She makes her film debut in Misbehaviour, starring Keira Knightley and she’ll appear in the US television drama, Pennyworth. Will she become a household name for her role as Princess of Wales? You’ll have to wait for season 4 coming next year.
MARION BAILEY
Marion Bailey replaces Victoria Hamilton as Queen Elizabeth, The Queen Mother. The 68-year-old actress has a long and accomplished history in film and theater. Season 3 starts in 1964 and Bailey said she did all she could to prep for the role. She looked for recordings of The Queen Mum’s voice, read everything she could and watched any available footage. She revealed to MEA Worldwide, an entertainment news site, “YouTube makes life a lot easier,” and added “there were very few recordings of the Queen Mother speaking, but I tried to track down what little there is.”
GILLIAN ANDERSON
Gillian Anderson, known to American audiences as Dana Scully from the X-Files and Netflix’s Sex Education joins the fourth season of The Crown as former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher. Anderson portrays the iconic, conservative politician, also nicknamed the “Iron Lady.”
