The Crown season 3: Netflix releases new look at Olivia Colman and Helena Bonham Carter

Netflix has a Christmas treat in store for The Crown fans: a new look at Olivia Colman and Helena Bonham Carter in character as Queen Elizabeth and Princess Margaret.

The third season will return to the streaming service in 2019 with a brand new cast, including Tobiaz Menzies, Josh O’Connor and Charles Dance.

Entertainment Weekly has unveiled our next look at Colman, who succeeds Claire Foy in the role, alongside Menzies, who replaces Matt Smith as Prince Phillip.

The other photo shows Bonham Carter alongside Ben Daniels, who’ll play Antony Armstrong-Jones in the new season that will chart the rise of Prime Minister Harold Wilson (Jason Watkins).

Series creator Peter Morgan has been recasting royal roles in the Netflix series as the characters get older. Speaking about his decision, he said: 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 than the feelings we all have as 30-year-olds.”

It was Vanessa Kirby who played Princess Margaret before Bonham Carter. Discussing this particular replacement, Morgan said: “Helena doesn’t look like Vanessa, but the spirit is so similar.”

You can find a full list of who’ll be playing who in season three here.

15 Christmas films to watch on Netflix

• 15 show all

15 Christmas films to watch on Netflix

• 1/15 The Christmas Chronicles

  The Christmas Chronicles, a holiday adventure from producer Chris Columbus ("Home Alone”, "Harry Potter") and director Clay Kaytis ("The Angry Birds Movie"), tells the story of sister and brother, Kate (Darby Camp) and Teddy Pierce (Judah Lewis), whose Christmas Eve plan to catch Santa Claus (Kurt Russell) on camera turns into an unexpected journey that most kids could only dream about. After staking out Santa’s arrival, they sneak into his sleigh, cause it to crash and nearly derail Christmas. As their wild night unfolds, Kate and Teddy work together with Santa - as you've never seen him before - and his loyal Elves to save Christmas before it's too late.

  Michael Gibson/Netflix

• 2/15 The Princess Switch

  One week before Christmas, Margaret, the gorgeous Duchess of Montenaro, switches places with Stacy, a "commoner” from Chicago, who looks exactly like her. With the assistance of a magical Santa's helper, Margaret falls in love with Stacy’s handsome co-worker, while Stacy falls in love with Margaret's fiance, the dashing Prince.

  Netflix

• 3/15 The Holiday Calendar

  A struggling but talented photographer inherits an antique holiday advent calendar, the contents of which seem to predict the future. Will this magical calendar lead her to love this holiday season?

  Netflix

• 4/15 The Holiday

  Dumped and depressed, English rose Iris (Kate Winslet) agrees to swap homes with similarly unlucky in love Californian Amanda (Cameron Diaz) for a much-needed break. Iris finds herself in a palatial Hollywood mansion while Amanda navigates the lanes of a picture-perfect English village. Also starring Jude Law and Jack Black.

  YouTube

• 5/15 Nativity!

  Paul (Martin Freeman), charged with directing the school nativity play, falsely boasts that his ex-girlfriend plans to turn the production into a film.

  YouTube

• 6/15 Deck the Halls

  Neighbours Matthew Broderick and Danny DeVito face off in this holiday comedy co-starring Kristen Davis.

  YouTube

• 7/15 Arthur Christmas

  At Santa Claus’s super-secret toy-making facility, Mr Claus entrusts his son, Arthur, to carry out an ultra-important Christmas mission.

  YouTube

• 8/15 A Christmas Prince

  Christmas comes early for an aspiring young journalist when she's sent abroad to get the scoop on a handsome prince who's poised to be king.

  Netflix

• 9/15 A Christmas Prince: The Royal Wedding

  A year after Amber helped Richard secure the crown, the two are set to tie the knot in a royal Christmas wedding - but their plans are jeopardized when Amber finds herself second-guessing whether or not she's cut out to be queen, and Richard is faced with a political crisis that threatens to tarnish not only the holiday season, but the future of the kingdom.

  Netflix

• 10/15 Last Holiday

  Upon learning that about terminal illness, Georgia, a shy woman decides to sell off all her possessions and live it up in a posh hotel.

  YouTube

• 11/15 Angela's Christmas

  Based on the beloved children’s book by Frank McCourt (author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning memoir Angela’s Ashes), Angela’s Christmas is a funny, heartwarming and poignant story about the power of family and the innocent desire of a child to ensure everyone is safe, warm and loved at Christmas time.

  Netflix

• 12/15 Christmas Inheritance

  Before ambitious heiress Ellen Langford can inherit her father's business, she must deliver a special Christmas card to her dad's former partner in Snow Falls. When a snowstorm strands her at the town inn, she discovers the true gift of Christmas.

  Netflix

• 13/15 Love the Coopers

  For their annual Christmas Eve celebration, Sam Cooper (John Goodman) and his wife Charlotte (Diane Keaton) welcome four generations of extended family, including son Hank (Ed Helms), daughter Eleanor (Olivia Wilde) and Charlotte's father, Bucky (Alan Arkin). Sam and Charlotte are separating after 40 years of marriage, while Hank is in the middle of a divorce. As the guests reveal their respective problems, they also rediscover the importance of kinship and the spirit of the holiday.

  YouTube

• 14/15 Christmas Wedding Planner

  A wedding planner is in the midst of planning her cousin's lavish and exclusive wedding when a devilishly handsome private investigator turns her world upside down.

  YouTube

• 15/15 Once Upon a Holiday

  A princess visiting New York during Christmas escapes her royal entourage to experience the city. She is saved from muggers by a handsome man, and romance blooms when he shows her his side of the city.

  YouTube

Colman – who will next be seen in Yorgos Lanthimos film, The Favourite – recently revealed she was forced to listen to the Shipping News in an attempt to stop her from crying in emotional scenes.

“My problem is, I emote,” Colman said. “The Queen is not meant to do it. She’s got to be a rock for everyone, and [has] been trained not to. We’ve discovered that I can’t do it.”

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