Helena Bonham Carter’s set to step into the shoes of Vanessa Kirby as Queen Elizabeth’s sister Princess Margaret in the upcoming third season of Netflix’s acclaimed royal drama The Crown. Seeing as Kirby recently won a BAFTA for her performance, Carter has her work cut out for her in making her own mark on the character, but it turns out she’s leaving it to the last minute to prepare for the role.
Speaking on The Graham Norton Show to promote her latest movie, Ocean’s 8, Carter revealed that she’s not prepped for playing Margaret yet – even though she starts filming The Crown in just a couple of weeks. She also joked that the toughest part about nailing the role is that she’ll have to make sure she sounds posh enough, with the actress saying:
“I’ve got two weeks to prepare so I’ve got to find her character soon,” she admitted. “I’m posh, but not that posh!”
To be fair to Carter, she has more experience than most in this sort of role. Funnily enough, she played Margaret’s mother – Elizabeth, the Queen Mother – in 2010’s Oscar-winning The King’s Speech. Clearly, the actress knows how to get under the skin of a royal then, so hopefully she’ll find it easy to slip into the character of Margaret in The Crown.
Of course, Carter’s just one part of a series-wide recast for the show’s third season. As the drama moves forward through the 20th century, the central roles have been replaced with middle-aged actors. Carter’s on-screen sister is Olivia Colman, who’s taking over the crown from Claire Foy, and while the new Prince Phillip wasn’t announced for a long while, with Paul Bettany reported to be filling in for Matt Smith, Tobias Menzies was ultimately cast as the Queen’s husband. Unlike past seasons, Netflix has confirmed there will be equal pay for the lead actors across the board this year, too.
The Crown season 3 is set to arrive on the streaming service in 2019 and as soon as we have an exact date, we’ll let you know.