The Crown Season Three: Everything You Need To Know

So you binge-watched season two of The Crown the week it was released? We get you. Which is why we’ve compiled every single titbit the producers have let slip about season three – from who will play the key characters (which are all being recast) to the likely plot outlines. Let the countdown commence.

Plotlines

We have two The Crown producers confirming this on record. One, Susanne Mackie, revealed that the beginnings of Camilla Parker Bowles and Prince Charles’ relationship will be covered in season three: “Peter is already talking about the most wonderful things,” she said at the BFI & Radio Times Festival in London, Harper’s Bazaar UK reports. “We start meeting Camilla Parker Bowles in season three.” The pair first met at a polo match in 1971, six years before Prince Charles met Princess Diana.

The show’s historian, Robert Lacey, has also let slip some of the new season subject matter, telling Town & Country that the break down of Princess Margaret and Lord Snowdon’s marriage will be a key focus. “In season three, without giving anything away – it’s on the record, it’s history – we’ll see the breakup of this extraordinary marriage between Margaret and Snowdon,” he revealed.

Cast

Acclaimed British actress Olivia Colman will play Queen Elizabeth II in the next phase of her life, replacing Claire Foy. “I just love her,” Digital Spy reports Foy as saying. “I admire her so much and the idea that we sort of will be doing the same job but not actually working together is just enough, I’m honoured by that.”

Getty

The Crown’s creator Peter Morgan explained his decision to recast key members to Variety, saying, “You can’t ask someone to act middle-aged. Someone has to bring their own fatigue to it. The feelings we all have as 50-year-olds are different to the feelings we all have as 30-year-olds.”

A young Prince Charles (think aged 16-22) will appear in season three, played by British actor Josh O'Connor. 27-year-old O'Connor has starred in The Durrells, Peaky Blinders, Doctor Who and God's Own Country.

Tobias Menzies has been cast to play Prince Philip in season's three and four of the hit Netflix series. You’ll remember him as Edmure Tully on Game of Thrones and from playing series' baddie Johnathan Randall in the popular Outlander series.

In early January 2018, the Evening Standard reported Helena Bonham Carter was "all but confirmed" to take over the role of Princess Margaret from Vanessa Kirby for Seasons 3 and 4 of The Crown. On May 3, Netflix confirmed the news with a statement from Bonham Carter: "I'm not sure which I'm more terrified about—doing justice to the real Princess Margaret or following in the shoes of Vanessa Kirby. The only thing I can guarantee is that I'll be shorter than Vanessa."

Air date

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Netflix confirmed Season 3 will air in 2019. The wait for Season 4 will probably be shorter, though, since Morgan stated Seasons 3 and 4 would be shot back-to-back, according to Variety.

Elizabeth and Philip. A partnership that endures. #TheCrown

Princess Diana

Producers have confirmed that a young Princess Diana will appear by the final episodes of season three, before becoming the show's star in seasons four and five. Although season five is yet to be made official, Netflix content chief Ted Sarandos has told The Hollywood Reporter that their current plan is to make six seasons of the hit show, spanning the entirety of the Queen's life.

That said, they're yet to work out how to tackle Princess Diana's tumultuous life. “The Diana stuff…I haven’t figured out what I’m going to do with her if I ever get that far,” Morgan told Vanity Fair in December 2017.

Getty

WATCH: The First Look At The Crown Season 3.