‘The Crown’ pays lead actress Claire Foy less than supporting actor Matt Smith

If there is a lesson to take away from the first two seasons of The Crown, it is that no sane person would dare cross Queen Elizabeth.

Netflix seems to have learned this too late, however, as it was revealed on Tuesday that lead actress Claire Foy made less than co-star Matt Smith for her work on the show.

Variety reported that producers Suzanne Mackie and Andy Harries were asked during a discussion at the INTV Conference in Jerusalem whether the actors playing Queen Elizabeth and her husband, Prince Philip, were paid the same amount. The pair admitted that Smith made more due to his Doctor Who fame, insisting that the inequity would be amended in the future.

“Going forward, no one gets paid more than the queen,” Mackie said.

Unfortunately for Foy, she won’t be the one paid more. The period drama’s unusual structure calls for an entirely different set of actors every two seasons. While Foy and Smith depicted the royal couple from the beginning of Queen Elizabeth’s reign until the mid-1960s, their characters have been recast for the third and fourth seasons. Olivia Colman will play the queen when the series resumes filming in July, while the new Philip has yet to be announced. Helena Bonham Carter will replace Vanessa Kirby as Princess Margaret, the queen’s rebellious younger sister.