The Stars of Netflix’s Royal Drama, The Crown



1 / 7 Chevron Chevron Photograph by Julian Broad. Claire Foy is photographed for her portrait as Queen Elizabeth II in full regalia, in what the Queen wore to her coronation ceremony in 1953. Foy portrays a young but steadfast Elizabeth as she assumes the throne at the age of 25.

Fancy pulling back the regal curtain to eavesdrop on the most private conversations of the world’s most public dynasty, the British royal family. This is the factional access promised at the blue-blooded heart of Netflix’s new, rumored $100 million TV series, The Crown.

Premiering in November, the show is based on Queen Elizabeth II’s epic reign; each 10-part season will cover a decade of Her Majesty’s life. The first season kicks off in 1947, with episodes featuring high drama and emotion including Princess Elizabeth’s wedding, King George VI’s untimely death, a nation in mourning, Queen Elizabeth acceding to the throne at just 25 years old, and an aging Churchill as her prime minister, all while both Britain and the monarchy are in postwar decline. Writer Peter Morgan (whose intensely researched, icon-humanizing film credits include The Queen and Frost/Nixon) came up with the idea for The Crown while writing The Audience, his 2015 Tony Award-winning play, starring Helen Mirren, about Queen Elizabeth II’s weekly “audiences” with her prime ministers throughout her reign. “I got to the Churchill scene,” says Morgan, “and thought, Here is a 77-year-old prime minister and this 25-year-old new Queen and what a fantastic relationship between a man at the end of his life, a woman at the beginning of hers . . . and she has to outgrow him.” So Morgan took it to Netflix, which made a ballsy two-season commitment, and re-unites Morgan with The Audience director Stephen Daldry and producer Andy Harries (not their first time at the regal rodeo). More than just a classy soap opera plugging a hole left by Downton Abbey’s departure, The Crown is long-form television at its most ambitious, cinematic best. Get ready to Netflix and kneel.

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