Olivia Colman is the Queen in The Crown Trailer

Finally, our first good look at the great Olivia Colman in the role of Queen Elizabeth II in Netflix’s The Crown. Colman steps in for Claire Foy, who portrayed the younger Queen for the first two seasons. Colman is coming off winning an Oscar for Best Actress for her portrayal of another Queen—the occasionally bilious Queen Anne in last year’s fantastic The Favourite. In The Crown, Colman’s playing a much more sedate, solid ruler, yet season three takes place in a very tumultuous time period—we’ve now jumped to 1964, with the full season taking us all the way to 1977.

Colman’s hardly the only new face. Tobias Menzies takes over for Matt Smith in the role of Prince Phillip, while Helena Bonham Carter replaces Vanessa Kirby as Princess Margaret. You’ve also got Ben Daniels as Tony Armstrong-Jones, Josh O’Connor takes the role of Prince Charles, Erin Doherty is Princess Anne, Marion Bailey is The Queen Mother, and Jason Watkins plays Prime Minister Harold Wilson.

Colman won’t be The Crown‘s last Queen Elizabeth, however. The current plan is to have three different actresses play the part. Colman’s set for seasons 3 and 4, which means an older actress will see the series through as the legendary monarch.

Check out the new trailer for The Crown season below. The third season arrives on Netflix on Sunday, November 17th.

Here’s the official synopsis for The Crown Season 3:

The third season of The Crown sees a new guard sweep into Downing Street, as Queen Elizabeth (Olivia Colman) and her family struggle to meet the challenges of a rapidly changing Britain. From cold-war paranoia, through to the jet-set and the space age – the exuberance of the 1960s and the long hangover of the 1970s – Elizabeth and the Royals must adapt to a new, more liberated, but also more turbulent world. Written by Peter Morgan, The Crown also stars Helena Bonham Carter as Princess Margaret, Tobias Menzies as The Duke of Edinburgh, Josh O’Connor as Prince Charles, Erin Doherty as Princess Anne, Ben Daniels as Lord Snowdon, Jason Watkins as Prime Minister Harold Wilson and Charles Dance as Lord Mountbatten.

Featured image: Olivia Colman is Queen Elizabeth in ‘The Crown.’ Photo by Sophie Mutevelian. Courtesy Netflix.

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