All Hail the First Look at Olivia Colman as Queen Elizabeth II in The Crown
All rise for Her Majesty Olivia Colman as she makes her debut as the new Queen Elizabeth II on The Crown! In a photo released on Monday by Netflix, the esteemed English actress is seen for the first time transformed into QE2, with her stiff signature coiffure and her go-to tea and marmalade (as one does). As Crown fans well know, Colman—a BAFTA winner who appeared in The Night Manager—will replace Claire Foy as the titular queen in seasons three (reportedly premiering in late 2018 or early 2019) and four of the royally addictive series.
The only thing missing are the Queen’s corgis . . . and Colman’s fellow new additions to the cast, including Outlander star Tobias Menzies as Prince Philip (replacing Matt Smith), the much-anticipated Helena Bonham Carter as Princess Margaret, and Ben Daniels as her husband, Antony Armstrong-Jones, a.k.a. Lord Snowdon. Season three will be set in 1963, with Colman, 44, playing 37-year-old Queen Elizabeth II as she takes on such momentous cultural events as the rise of the Beatles and, on a note personal to the House of Windsor, the entry of Camilla Parker Bowles to the royal scene. Smith has said season four will see the rise of Margaret Thatcher and—hold on to your tiaras—Princess Diana.
The Crown’s scrapping and replacing of its beloved cast, including fan favorites and awards darlings Foy and Smith, is a bold, unsentimental move—less ambitious shows that are not really concerned with age-appropriate depictions of history would surely have just packed on the latex Benjamin Button makeup and called it a day. But not The Crown: Instead, the drama is paving the way for a brilliant actress who is not her 20s to tackle a meaty and complex starring role, and shaking up the show while it’s still hot. As long as the women of the cast are now being paid equally . . . all hail the new queen—and The Crown.
