Lesley Manville Cast as Princess Margaret in The Crown Season 5

Despite originally planned for 6 seasons, The Crown will end with five seasons. We have seen Vanessa Kirby and then Helena Bonham Carter playing the role of Princess Margaret. But for the finale, the crown has found its Princess Margaret in someone else.

Do you know who will play Princess Margaret?

The Crown is a historical drama web series. It is based on the reign of Queen Elizabeth II. It is created and written by Peter Morgan and produced by Left Bank Pictures and Sony Pictures Television for Netflix. It extended out from Morgan’s film The Queen (2006) as well as his stage play The Audience (2013).

The first season begins with the period from Queen Elizabeth and Philip’s marriage in 1947. At the end of season one, we see Elizabeth’s sister Princess Margaret get engaged to Group Captain Peter Townsend in 1955. The second season starts from the period of the Suez Crisis in 1956. Prime Minister Harold Macmillan retires in the year 1963. Season two comes to an end with the birth of Prince Edward in 1964. The third season is all about the period from 1964 to 1977. We see Harold Wilson, two periods as Prime Minister. Also, the season introduces Camilla Shand. The fourth season is not yet aired. But we know that it will include Margaret Thatcher’s premiership. The season will introduce Lady Diana Spencer. The fifth season will cover the Queen’s reign into the 21st century. The Crown’s fifth and the final season will not begin filming until 2021. 

The series covers Elizabeth’s life from her younger years up to her reign in the 21st century. New actors are being cast every two seasons. For the first two seasons, Claire Foy portrays the Queen, Matt Smith as Prince Philip and Vanessa Kirby as Princess Margaret. For the third and fourth seasons, Olivia Colman takes over as the Queen, Tobias Menzies plays Prince Philip and Helena Bonham Carter as Princess Margaret. For the final season, Imelda Staunton will succeed Colman and Lesley Manville will succeed Bonham Carter. Filming of the series takes place at Elstree Studios in Borehamwood, Hertfordshire, with locating shooting through the United Kingdom and internationally. The first season was released on Netflix on 4 November 2016, the second season on 8 December 2017, and the third on 17 November 2019.

The Crown has been known and praised for its writing, acting, directing, cinematography, production values and for the accurate historic account of Queen Elizabeth’s reign, It received awards at the 23rd Screen Actors Guild Awards, won Best Actress for Foy in the lead role and Best Actor for John Lithgow as Winston Churchill. The Crown secured a total of 26 nominations for its first two seasons at the Primetime Emmy Awards, including twice for Outstanding Drama Series. The Crown was nominated for the Best Drama TV Series at the 77th Golden Globe Awards.

Cast

Claire Foy entered negotiations to portray Queen Elizabeth II by November 2014. Vanessa Kirby was in negotiations to portray Princess Margaret by May 2015. In June 2015, John Lithgow was cast as Winston Churchill and Matt Smith as Prince Philip. Foy was confirmed as Queen Elizabeth II. Victoria Hamilton, Jared Harris, and Eileen Atkins were also starring in the first season.

The Left Bank producers mentioned that Smith was paid more than Foy in the first two seasons. This is partly because of his Doctor Who fame. This note brought up a discussion on the gender pay gap. This also included the creation of a petition asking Smith to donate the difference between his and Foy’s salary to the Time’s Up Legal Defence Fund. The Left Bank later apologized to Foy and Smith for putting them inside a media storm where it was not their fault. They also clarified that they are responsible for budgets and salaries. The actors are not aware of who gets what. So they cannot be held personally responsible for the pay of their colleagues. They said that they support the drive for gender equality. Left Bank’s director did note that no other actor would be paid more than the actress portraying the Queen.

Every two years, the producers recast the continuing roles with older actors. This is because the timeline moves forward and the characters grow old. In October 2017, Olivia Colman was cast as Queen Elizabeth for the third and fourth seasons. By January 2018, Paul Bettany and Helena Bonham Carter were in negotiations to play Prince Philip and Princess Margaret respectively. But, by the end of the month, Paul was forced to drop out. He didn’t stick to the time commitment. Tobias Menzies was cast as Prince Philip for the third and fourth seasons by the end of March 2018. At the beginning of My 2018, Bonham Carter was confirmed to have been cast as Prime Minister. In June 2018, Ben Daniels was cast as Antony Armstrong-Jones for season 3. Also, Erin Doherty joined the series as Princess Anne. A month later, Josh O’Connor was cast as Prince Charles. Marion Bailey was cast as Queen Mother. In October 2018, Emerald Fennell was cast as Camilla Shand. In December 2018, Charles Dance was cast as Louis Mountbatten. Emma Corrin was cast as Lady Diana Spencer for the fourth season in April 2019. Gillian Anderson was cast as Margaret Thatcher in the fourth season and was confirmed for the role of September 2019.

In January 2020, Imelda Staunton was announced as the Queen for the final season. In July 2020, Lesley Manville was announced as Princess Margaret in the fifth season.

Filming

25% of the first season was filmed at Elstree Studios in Borehamwood, Hertfordshire, while the remaining filmed on the location. It altogether took 152 days. Sets for the interior of a private jet, private quarters, cabinet room, and exterior of 10 Downing Street were built at Elstree Studios. Lancaster House, Wrotham Park, and Wilton House were used to double Buckingham Palace. Ely Cathedral and Winchester Cathedral stood in for Westminster Abbey. Locations in South Africa were doubled as Kenya. Additional locations in the UK included Waddesdon Manor, Royal Naval College, Eltham Palace, Shoreham Airport, Goldsmiths’ Hall, New Slains Castle, Balmoral Castle, Cruden Bay, Lyceum Theatre, Hatfield House, Loseley Park, The Historic Dockyard Chatham, Southwark Cathedral, Ardverikie House, Englefield House, Wellington College, Great Central Railway and Glenfeshie Estate. In October 2016, filming of season 2 began. Each episode of the first two seasons took about 22 days to shoot. Filming of season 3 began in July 2018 and season 4 in August 2019.

The scene where the King’s cancerous lung was removed, was performed by Sir Clement Price Thomas. Pankaj Chandak, a specialist in transplant surgery, researched and planned it. Pankaj and his team then became part of the actual scene.

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Famous Netflix show, The Crown will come to an end in Season 5. Netflix has announced that Lesley Manville, the Oscar-nominated Phantom Thread standout, will be playing Princess Margaret, Queen Elizabeth II’s sister.

“I’m absolutely thrilled to confirm Imelda Staunton as Her Majesty The Queen for the fifth and final season, taking The Crown into the 21st Century. Imelda is an astonishing talent and will be a fantastic successor to Claire Foy and Olivia Colman,” Morgan, creator, writer, and executive producer, said in a statement. “At the outset, I had imagined The Crown running for six seasons but 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. I’m grateful to Netflix and Sony for supporting me in this decision.”

Are you excited to see Lesley Manville, our Princess Margaret?