Just when fans started to picture Queen Elizabeth as Claire Foy, the Netflix hit The Crown changed things up and cast Olivia Colman in the role for seasons three and four. Now Netflix has finally shared a photo of Colman on set as the monarch, drinking her tea.
For those not familiar with the work of Olivia Colman, she is a rockstar with more than enough gravitas to pull off the role of Queen Elizabeth and maintain the popularity of the Netflix series. Variety shared the photo from Netflix of Colman in full hair and makeup as the queen announcing that production is underway for the next installment of The Crown (likely airing in early 2019).
Colman is best known to American audiences for her starring role in Broadchurch on BBC America in which she starred opposite David Tennant for three seasons. Season 3 of The Crown will pick up roughly in the same period (the sixties) where we last left off. Show creator Peter Morgan says that Season 3 will cover 1964 through 1970.
Hopefully, Netflix will soon share photos of Tobias Menzies as Prince Philip, Helena Bonham Carter as Princess Margaret, and Ben Daniels as Antony Armstrong-Jones, Lord Snowdon, Margaret’s husband.
See Olivia Colman as Queen Elizabeth II in ‘The Crown’ https://t.co/oH2mT9RRJN pic.twitter.com/FYeIZBDJoG
— SarcastaNerd (@SarcastaNerd) July 16, 2018
Olivia Colman is being portrayed as the new “mature” queen (which seems to mean middle-aged), who is old enough to have a teen son (Prince Charles). Colman knows she’s stepping into big shoes, as Claire Foy gave an award-winning performance as the queen, but she has publicly stated that it was time for her to go.
“This is the last stint. It’s over, I’m done. I always knew it was only going to be two series and then the part would be reincarnated and someone else takes over. That’s the nature of the part.”
Olivia Colman expressed that she was a fan of The Crown and Claire Foy long before she was offered the role of Queen Elizabeth for Season 3. She says that she has studied Foy’s mannerisms while playing the monarch.
“I’m so thrilled to be part of The Crown . I was utterly gripped watching it. A proper ‘just one more’ feeling. I think Claire Foy is an absolute genius. She’s an incredibly hard acct to follow. I’m basically going to rewatch every episode and copy her!”
The whole primary cast seems thrilled to have been chosen for their roles and was excited to get to work on the latest chapter of the popular Netflix series.