The Crown season 3 is already the subject of a lot of buzz. The upcoming season is going to not only replace some familiar faces with new ones for big characters but also feature a young Princess Diana — which has got to be a widely coveted role if there ever were one.
Metro US will be keeping an eye on news about The Crown season 3 and keeping you updated with the latest, but for now, here’s everything we know about the next chapter in the series documenting the life of Queen Elizabeth II.
The Crown season 3 cast: Additions, changes and Princess Diana
The Crown season 3 cast changes
You probably already heard that Matt Smith was out as Prince Philip. If not, rest assured it has nothing to do with the actor and everything to do with how the series is structured — and he’s not the only one. They’ll have to replace everyone from Claire Foy on down.
The makeup is the limiting factor for the series. The significant 10-year jumps between seasons make it impossible to continue with the current cast, who has already been aged 10 years to play their same roles for the second season of the series. The Crown season 3 is simply going to be too much of an age gap for the current actors and actresses, even with professional hair and makeup at the ready, so a new cast is in the works.
But it’s not all smooth sailing for getting their replacements ready. Producers had already lined up Paul Bettany to play the prince in The Crown season 3, but it appear that has also fallen through. The actor is apparent unable to commit to the filming schedule The Crown would require, which might have been complicated by the fact that he’s already slated to appear in Avengers: Infinity War. Either way, the search is back on.
Some of the other roles are confirmed, however. Olivia Colman is slated to replace Claire Foy as Queen Elizabeth II, while Helen Bonham Carter is widely expected to land the role of Princess Margaret, although this is yet to be officially confirmed. The Queen Mother and Margaret’s husband are both roles that have yet to be recast.
The Crown season 3 new characters
If you’ve been skimming, waiting for us to get to Princess Diana, here you go: Princess Diana is not only going to be a character in The Crown season 3 but, as the Independent reports “will then be featured heavily in the fourth and as-yet-unconfirmed fifth seasons.” So you’re going to get your fill of Princess Diana.
You’ll have to wait through most of the season for Diana Spencer to make her first appearance in The Crown season 3, so die-hard Diana fans should be most excited for the two seasons that follow. But who’s going to play the tragic princess? An official decision hasn’t been made yet, rumors are swirling around multiple popular actresses.
Sophie Turner, best known as Sansa Stark from Game of Thrones, is reported to have the best odds for landing the role, Express.co.uk reports. But Rosamund Pike (of Gone Girl fame), Sienna Miller, Florence Pugh and Keira Knightley are all said to be considered. You’ll also be introduced to Camilla Parker Bowles, the Duchess of Cornwall and second wife to Charles, Prince of Wales.
The Crown season 3 plot
So in terms of the story arc, what’s going to be different in The Crown season 3 compared to the previous two seasons? As you know, there’s going to be a time jump, which means many of the story lines that were just developing in season 2, such as the problems arising between Margaret and her husband, will now be significantly more developed for the time jump.
You can expect to see the messy divorce of Margaret and Lord Snowden (Matthew Goode), but not before plenty of drama ensues leading up to that point. You’ll also see the royal marriage with its own issues as the couple continues to deal with the infidelity of Prince Philip.
On a more positive note, you’ll see more of Prince Charles (Billy Jenkins) parts of whose childhood you saw in season two. Of course, Jenkins will be replaced to deal with the time jump, but you’ll trade in the actor in order to see more of his young adult life and, presumably toward the end of the season, the development of his relationship with Diana Spencer — as well as his romantic involvement with Camilla Parker Bowles.
The Crown season 3 trailer
Netflix has yet to release The Crown season 3 trailer, but we’ll update you with the teaser as soon as the streaming service makes it available. The first trailer for The Crown season 2 wasn’t released until August 2017, so we might be waiting a while for this one.
The Crown season 3 release date
The release date of The Crown season 3 has yet to be announced, especially since Netflix has lots of recasting to do before they even start to film. As soon as it’s announced — or as soon as Metro US hears some substantial rumors about a plausible date — we’ll update this article with that information.
