CULTURE

The Crown Teaser Features Olivia Colman and a Claire Foy Cameo (Of Sorts)

Two Queen Elizabeth IIs for the price of one.

Sep. 20, 2019

We always knew that Netflix’s The Crown‘s plan was to follow the royal family as they age and to switch out the entire cast every two seasons accordingly. Still, the arrangement is a bit of a risk, especially as the show has made stars out of it’s original cast. [Claire Foy](http://www.wmagazine.com/topic/claire-foy. in particular, has shot to superstardom, and when they announced her replacement, Olivia Colman, she was basically unknown on this side of the Atlantic. Sure, everyone involved managed to catch a very lucky break thanks to Colman’s completely unpredicted run to a Best Actress Oscars for her role in The Favourite, but Netflix is still easing us gently into the Foy-Colman transition with a very meta-teaser trailer.

The short teaser opens with Queen Elizabeth II, cloaked in shadows, entering a room to view her new official portrait, but before Colman’s face is unveiled the camera focuses on an older portrait of Foy in the role.

“Everyone is delighted with the new profile, ma’am,” says a member of the royal staff. “Which they feel to be an elegant reflection of your majesty’s transition from young woman to…”

“Old bat,” interjects Colman’s version of Elizabeth, her face still out of focus.

“A great many changes,” she says. “Nothing one can do about it. One just has to get on with it.”

It’s a pretty meta-commentary given the show’s normal tone, but better to address it in a teaser trailer than in the actual show, we suppose.

Though The Crown has sat out a year and won’t be eligible for any Emmys this Sunday, there are already a number of comments under the trailer’s YouTube page predicting an Emmy win for Colman in 2020 (an award, we should point out, that Glenn Close has won twice before). Though, there’s still plenty of other members of the upcoming cast we’ve yet to officially meet in character. Helena Bonham Carter will play Princess Margaret, Tobian Menzies will take over as Prince Phillip, and Josh O’Connor will play Prince Charles. We’ll also meet Emerald Fennell (most recently show runner on Killing Eve‘s second season) as the woman who would later come to be known as Camilla Parker Bowles, and Emma Corrin as Princess Diana will be quitely introduced before taking on a larger role in the fourth season.

The third season is set to premier on November 17th.