The Crown's second season premiered two months ago, but we're already craving brand-new episodes. With pre-production for the Season 3—slated to star a whole new cast—underway, we're exploring everything we know about the next season below.
1) The show will be entirely recast, with Olivia Colman taking over as Queen Elizabeth II.
In October, Variety confirmed Broadchurch and The Night Manager star Olivia Colman will play Queen Elizabeth II for Seasons 3 and 4, picking up the role from Claire Foy. Foy confirmed to Vulture back in December 2016 that the entire original cast of the series would be replaced. In February, showrunner Peter Morgan told Screen Daily his motivation for that decision: "I’ve got strong feelings about how far you can go as an actor, I think you can age ten years younger than they are and ten years older and no more." Right before the Season 1 premiere in 2016, Morgan told Variety:
"You can’t ask someone to act middle-aged. Someone has to bring their own fatigue to it. The feelings we all have as 50 year olds are different than the feelings we all have as 30-year-olds. That informs everything we do."
2) Seasons 3 and 4 will be shot back-to-back.
Peter Morgan revealed at a BAFTA event on Monday, February 26 that Seasons 3 and 4 of The Crown will be shot consecutively, and he's currently in the midst of writing both, Variety reports.
3) Paul Bettany won't be playing Prince Philip after all.
On January 25, THR reported Bettany's negotiations with Netflix fell through due to a scheduling conflict. Over the weekend, news broke that the actor was "near a deal" to star in Seasons 3 and 4 of The Crown as Prince Philip. Bettany is known for his roles as J.A.R.V.I.S. and Vision in multiple Marvel films, as well as movies such as A Beautiful Mind and Wimbledon. If Bettany's deal closed, he would've taken over the role from Matt Smith, who played Prince Philip in Seasons 1 and 2 of the series.
Back in December, Smith told Seth Meyers he thought he knew who was lined up for the role. "I don't want to speculate too much, but yeah, no, he's brilliant, if it's the person I think it might be," he said. "And he's incredibly handsome as well. I've morphed into someone far better looking than I."
4) Helena Bonham Carter will reportedly play Princess Margaret.
In early January, the Evening Standard reported Helena Bonham Carter is "all but confirmed" to take over the role of Princess Margaret for Seasons 3 and 4 of The Crown. An Instagram posted by Vanessa Kirby on Saturday, January 13 basically confirmed that news; it shows Kirby and Bonham Carter smiling happily, and it's captioned, "Honoured @thecrownnetflix."
5) Colman says her performance will be inspired by Foy.
Colman at the premiere of Murder on the Orient Express in November 2017
Getty Images
Colman told the BBC she's "so thrilled" to be joining the show, revealing she was "utterly gripped" watching it. "I think Claire Foy is an absolute genius—she's an incredibly hard act to follow," Colman said. "I'm basically going to re-watch every episode and copy her." Foy returned the compliment and gushed over Colman: "I just love her, I admire her so much and the idea that we sort of will be doing the same job but not actually working together is just enough—I'm honored by that," she said.
6) Netflix hasn't ordered Season 3 yet.
When Variety reported the Olivia Colman news, it also noted that Netflix hasn't ordered Season 3 or 4 of The Crown—yet. Since 3 is already in production, official word from Netflix seems inevitable.
7) It probably won't air until 2019.
The BBC reports Season 3 of The Crown will air in 2019, which makes sense. Season 2 of The Crown had already been filming for a month when Season 1 premiered on Netflix in November 2016. Unless Netflix expedites production, we'll have to wait beyond The Crown's usual holiday season premiere date for its third installment.
8) Princess Margaret and the Earl of Snowdon's relationship will deteriorate.
Season 2 of The Crown explores the relationship between Princess Margaret and the enigmatic photographer Antony Armstrong-Jones. The two marry in Season 2 Episode 7, with Armstrong-Jones taking the title Earl of Snowdon, and the couple welcome two children by the end of the season. "In Season 3, without giving anything away—it’s on the record, it’s history—we’ll see the breakup of this extraordinary marriage between Margaret and Snowdon," The Crown history consultant Robert Lacey told Town and Country. The couple separated in 1976 and divorced in 1978, the first royal divorce since Princess Victoria of Edinburgh's in 1901.
Princess Margaret and the Earl of Snowdon in 1973
Getty Images
9) It will take place from 1964 to 1976.
This eight-year span covers the same amount of time within the queen's reign as each of the first two seasons. Season 1 chronicled Elizabeth's marriage in 1947 to the dissolution of Margaret and Peter Townsend's relationship in 1955, while Season 2 began with the Suez Crisis in 1956 and ended with the birth of Prince Edward in 1964.
Season 3 could potentially open with the queen's royal tour of Canada in 1964, which was marred by rumors of an assassination attempt. The season will probably explore the decolonization of Africa and the Caribbean in the late '60s and '70s and Prince Charles's movement into the public eye (his mother crowned him Prince of Wales in 1969 and he gave his first public speech in 1974, at the age of 26). The 1976 cutoff date for the end of the season means we won't see Elizabeth's Silver Jubilee in 1977 or Margaret's divorce in '78 until Season 4.
10) Princess Diana will not appear in Season 3.
Even though Morgan told People in December 2016 that Diana Spencer would make her first appearance in The Crown toward the end of Season 3, casting director Nina Gold confirmed to Vanity Fair that she will not be featured in the upcoming season.“When we do get to her, that is going to be pretty interesting,” Gold said. Since Prince Charles met Diana in November 1977, we'll likely see this moment onscreen near the beginning of Season 4.
11) But Camilla Parker Bowles will be introduced.
The Crown producer Suzanne Mackie revealed in April that Camilla Parker Bowles, the Duchess of Cornwall and Prince Charles's current wife, will be introduced in Season 3. Charles and Camilla (née Shand) met in either 1970 or '71 and dated on and off for more than three decades—including the years both were married to other people—until they married in 2005.
12) Get ready for a whole new crop of Prime Ministers.
Following Harold Macmillan's resignation in October 1963 (as depicted in the final episode of The Crown Season 2), the U.K. saw four Prime Ministers serve five terms over the next 15 years: Sir Alec Douglas-Home, in office a paltry 364 days; Harold Wilson (1964-1970); Edward Heath (1970-1974); Wilson again (1974-1976); and James Callaghan (1976-1979). Season 3 will likely end with Callaghan and save Margaret Thatcher, who took office May 4, 1979 and served 11 years—the longest-serving Prime Minister in British history—for Season 4.
Bonus: Claire Foy is already theorizing about future seasons.
And she wants Helen Mirren to take on Queen Elizabeth when Colman's run ends. Foy told Andy Cohen on Watch What Happens Live she would "put money on it."
