Lesley Manville (Phantom Thread) will play Princess Margaret, Queen Elizabeth II’s younger sister, in Netflix’s The Crown. As the series chronicles the British royal family through their entire lives, the princess role was previously held by Helena Bonham-Carter (Fight Club), according to The Hollywood Reporter.
The hit drama will end with their fifth season, which has given writer Peter Morgan (The Queen) and production company Left Bank an opportunity to showcase Elizabeth and the royalty around her in all stages of her ruling. However, Morgan had previously anticipated a sixth season. As told to The Hollywood Reporter, Morgan said, “Now that we have begun work on the stories for season five it has become clear to me that this is the perfect time and place to stop.” This realization came at the same time that Imelda Staunton would play Elizabeth in the final season, replacing Olivia Colman (The Favourite).
Manville expressed the joy of being cast and said that she “could not be happier to be playing Princess Margaret.” To effectively tell the stories of the royal family, actors are switched to show aging through the seasons. To that, Manville said, “The baton is being passed on from two formidable actresses, and I really don’t want to let the side down. Furthermore to play siblings with my dear friend Imelda Staunton will be nothing short of a complete joy,” via The Hollywood Reporter.
The show’s fourth season is scheduled to premiere later this year with the final season to begin filming in 2021. With the season 3 trailer below, the first three seasons are available to stream on Netflix.