Olivia Colman Talks Preparing To Play The Queen In The Crown Season 3

The Crown is changing up its cast when it returns later this year for its third season. As the hit Netflix royal drama moves forward to the middle-years of the Queen’s life, Claire Foy, Matt Smith and the rest are out, with Olivia Colman, Tobias Menzies and more filling the roles instead.

Colman, of course, previously played British royalty in The Favourite, in which she starred as Queen Anne and has just received her first Oscar nomination for Best Actress for. Portraying a living queen is obviously a lot more responsibility and comes with more pressure, though, and the star revealed to Town&Country Mag that she tried to keep the worry of impersonating Elizabeth II out of her head when filming.

“You kind of can’t think about that, I think… I don’t want anyone to watch and go ‘she’s totally off the mark.'”

Colman went on to say that The Crown makes use of a large team of experts who ensure the series remains as historically accurate as possible. Nailing the Queen’s distinctive accent was particularly important for the actress, with the voice department regularly on hand to coach her.

“With the word ‘television’, there’s a way of saying it that’s partly historical and partly, she sort of has her own accent… ‘telivision,’ so it’s an ‘i’ sound. I enjoy all of those. That’s that quite fun.”

So has The Crown increased Colman’s admiration for the Queen? The star revealed that, though she’s not personally much of a royalist, embodying the character has definitely left her with an “almost unbearable” amount of appreciation for the monarch.

“Not sure I was ever a monarchist—I wasn’t—but the Queen is an incredibly impressive human being,” she said. “And I’m slightly obsessed with her. It’s grown, it’s become almost unbearable now.”

Alongside Colman and Menzies, Helena Bonham Carter will be playing the Queen’s sister Princess Margaret, Ben Daniels is Margaret’s husband Lord Snowden and Jason Watkins will be seen as Prime Minister Harold Wilson. Casting has already begun on season 4, as well, with Gillian Anderson playing Margaret Thatcher.

The Crown season 3 doesn’t have a release date yet, but it’s likely coming in the back half of this year. As soon as we hear more though, we’ll be sure to let you know.