The Crown returns to Netflix with Emma Corrin playing Princess Diana, while Olivia Colman and Helena Bonham Carter play Queen Elizabeth and Princess Margaret one last time in season 4

Nov 13 , 2020

Claire Foy, as the young Queen Elizabeth, Olivia Coleman as the queen in her later years and Imelda Staunton, who will be the third and final actress to portray the British monarch on Netflix series The Crown. Photo: Netflix/AP

Emma Corrin’s Lady Diana and Josh O’Connor’s Prince Charles take the spotlight in the new season of the beloved British royal family drama – released by Netflix on November 15 – while Helena Bonham Carter and Olivia Colman take their final turns before ‘passing the baton’

Netflix series The Crown, which follows the reign of Queen Elizabeth, might offer viewers a peek into a modern royal family’s life and times – or at least an engaging dramatisation. For the cast, however, it’s meant the lofty equivalent of gig work as the historical drama ticks through the decades.

Claire Foy played Britain’s young Queen Elizabeth for the first two seasons, with Olivia Colman stepping in to chart her middle years last season and in the 10 new episodes coming out this weekend. Imelda Staunton will ascend to the throne for the final two chapters.

When Diana Spencer makes her pivotal entrance this season, which is largely set in the 1980s, it’s Emma Corrin in the part opposite Josh O’Connor’s Prince Charles. Corrin’s job is one and done: Elizabeth Debicki takes over in seasons five and six as the bound-for-tragedy Princess Diana, opposite a new, yet-to-be announced Charles.

Rate your Margarets, rate your queens, rate your Philips

Helena Bonham Carter, Princess Margaret’s actress in The Crown

Claire Foy as the young Queen Elizabeth in The Crown. Photo: Netflix

A role in The Crown is akin to a relay-race baton destined to be handed off, said Helena Bonham Carter, back for her second whirl as the tempestuous Princess Margaret. The actress is sandwiched between Vanessa Kirby of seasons one and two and Lesley Manville, who will take Margaret across the finish line.

“I’m very sad that it’s over, but it’s time that she was played by somebody else at some point … She’s just a great gift of a part,” Bonham Carter said during a joint interview with Colman and Tobias Menzies, returning as Prince Philip.

“Rate your Margarets, rate your queens, rate your Philips,” she said, comparing the process to “who wore it best” celebrity fashion critiques.

Colman called Staunton’s casting “amazing”, then suggested the newcomer could overshadow her. “It’s almost, ‘wish she wasn’t quite good,’” she said, smiling. That prompted Bonham Carter to predict a battle of the stars after the series ends.

Colman was asked if she had any advice for her successor. Her terse reply: “Good luck. The wig’s itchy.”

Casting director Robert Sterne, a veteran who won three Emmys for his work on HBO’s Game of Thrones and a 2018 trophy for The Crown, said swapping out actors wasn’t preordained when he began working with series creator and writer Peter Morgan.

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