What Do Viewers Of 'The Crown' Really Think Of The New Cast?
Nobody really likes change right? If you go to a restaurant and always order one kind of dish, only to find out they've taken it off the menu, you feel devastated, and possibly very hangry.
The third season of "The Crown" has finally dropped on Netflix, and viewers have been waiting with bated breath for months to finally binge-watch all the episodes.
However, the new season takes place in the 1960s and 1970s, meaning Queen Elizabeth II, as well as all the other characters on the show, are older. A new cast had to be found; so, what do viewers think?
Our Queen Claire Foy
Claire Foy, who played Queen Elizabeth II in the first two seasons of the show, received huge amounts of praise for her role. Her co-star Matt Smith, who played Prince Philip, as well as the rest of the cast, was widely regarded by critics as having done a fantastic job.
Claire won many accolades for her performance, including, the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Television Series Drama and the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series. She was nominated for the BAFTA TV Award for Best Actress and the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series.
In an article for The Guardian, Lucy Mangan wrote, Foy’s performance as Elizabeth Mountbatten is as ruthlessly unshowy as the woman herself. It’s a considerable challenge to play a character who becomes more and more fiercely restricted over time, but Foy manages to register every layer of misery and frustration as Elizabeth Ordinarius evolves into Elizabeth Regina, seeking a way to reconcile the conflicts of personal freedom and desire, wifehood and queendom and to work out quite what to do with advice such as the prime minister’s: “Let them see only the eternal in you”.
Our New Queen Olivia Colman
Olivia Colman takes over as Queen Elizabeth II in the third season, alongside Tobias Menzies who will be playing the Queen's husband and long-time consort, Prince Philip.
It seemed Colman was anxious about taking over the role after the first two seasons were so successful, and gained a huge fan base.
She told EW she had the "worst job in the world," continuing, “It’s horrendous. Everyone loves Claire Foy, so I have got the worst job in the world at the moment.
Some Viewers Are Struggling With The New Cast
Many fans of the show have struggled to get used to the new cast.
Viewers expressed their opinions on Twitter, with one user writing, "I love Olivia Colman but Claire Foy killed the role of Elizabeth. Watching this season of The Crown without Claire is slightly disappointing."
Another Twitter user wrote, "I'm sorry, but Olivia Colman is just Olivia Colman in The Crown. She is not The Queen. Bring back Claire Foy. "
While it's difficult to get used to new actors, especially playing the same roles, the age difference makes it impossible to continue with the same cast. Season 5 will also see new actors playing the roles.
Olivia Colman Has Also Received Praise
Many have given the new season and actors praise for being just as good as the beginning of the show.
Caroline Siede wrote for AV Club, "If any other TV show ever decides to recast its entire ensemble between seasons, the showrunners would do well to study the first act of this premiere. In its opening minutes, 'Olding' elegantly shifts from one era to the next while reassuring us that The Crown is still the same opulent, beautifully shot, corgi-filled series."
While it's incredibly difficult for a beloved television series to completely re-cast the characters, The Crown seems to have done a good job of not pulling the rug out from underneath viewers.
