Netflix crowns Outlander' star Tobias Menzies as the next Prince Philip

Jayme Deerwester | USA TODAY

Show Caption Hide Caption Fans of 'The Crown' petition Matt Smith to donate pay disparity Netflix has admitted to paying Matt Smith more for his role as Prince Phillip in The Crown, which means he made more than the Queen, Claire Foy. Now people have turned to an online petition to end the pay disparity. Keri Lumm reports.

Goodbye, Doctor Who. Hello, Black Jack (and Frank) Randall.

Outlander veteran Tobias Menzies will replace Matt Smith as the middle-aged Prince Philip for the next two seasons of Netflix's The Crown, USA TODAY has confirmed.

At 44, the London-born Menzies is the same age as his Night Manager and Crown co-star Olivia Colman, who was cast as Queen Elizabeth 2.0 in October. She replaces the outgoing Claire Foy, who at 33, played the youngest incarnation of the monarch.

Colman will also benefit from a new rule instituted after Variety revealed that Smith had been paid more than Foy, the top-billed star on the royal drama. (As a Doctor Who alumnus, he was arguably more well known at the time they were cast; however, Foy is the one who has taken home acting awards for The Crown.)

But going forward, producer Suzanne Mackie promised that "no one makes more than the queen."

At 6 feet, Menzies is a hair shorter than Smith (who’s 6-foot-1) but actually the same height as the real Prince Philip, who is now 96 and mostly retired from public life.

However, the brown-haired actor will either have to lighten his hair — or wear a blond wig as Smith did. (Foy told Vogue her TV husband "looked really good" in his.)

For an idea of what The Crown’s hair and makeup team need to match, here’s a photo of a 39-year-old Philip, taken with his family at Balmoral in 1960.

It's unclear whether Menzies' ears will be deemed large enough to pass as Philip's (Smith's were; in 2016, he confirmed to British TV show This Morning, "They are my real ears. I was teased as a child.")

Menzies pulled double duty on Starz's time-traveling Outlander, playing Frank Randall, the husband of heroine Claire (Caitriona Balfe) and his ancestor, sadistic British army officer Jonathan "Black Jack" Randall. Jack died on the battlefield in September's Season 3 opener; Frank's death followed, two episodes later, in a car crash.

Game of Thrones fans will recognize him as Edmure Tully, the brother of Catelyn Stark and the groom at Season 3's infamous Red Wedding. He last appeared looking quite miserable as a hostage of the Freys and Jaime Lannister in Season 6.