The first look of Imelda Staunton as Queen Elizabeth II in Season 5 of The Crown has been revealed by Netflix.
Staunton is taking over the role from the Golden Globe winner Olivia Colman, alongside a brand-new cast as the royal family ushering in a new era. The Crown’s official Twitter account wrote, "An early glimpse of our new Queen Elizabeth II, Imelda Staunton."
Staunton will portray the Queen throughout the 1990s and to 2003, during Prime Minister John Major’s seven-year tenure in 10 Downing Street. The actor will be joined by Jonny Lee Miller as John Major, and Lesley Manville as Princess Margaret. The Game of Thrones actor Jonathan Pryce will be seen playing Prince Philip, while Elizabeth Debicki will feature as Diana, Princess of Wales, and Dominic West will be stepping in as Prince Charles.
The upcoming season’s storyline will feature the period representing Charles and Diana’s turbulent marriage, as well as the deaths of Diana and Princess Margaret, and the fire at Windsor Castle. The Crown season 5 is also rumoured to include Princess Diana’s bombshell BBC Panorama interview, which became a matter of public attention again when a recent inquiry revealed reporter Martin Bashir's deceitful methods of securing the scoop.
In an interview with BBC, Staunton explained the added complexity as the show chronicles more recent periods in British history.
“I think my sort of extra challenge, as if I needed it, is that I’m now doing the Queen that we’re a little more familiar with. With Claire Foy, it was almost history and now I’m playing one that people could say ‘she doesn’t do that,’ ‘she’s not like that,’ and that’s my personal bête noire,” she said.
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