Jonathan Pryce Joins Imelda Staunton & Lesley Manville In ‘The Crown’ Seasons 5&6 As Prince Philip
‘The Crown‘ has located their next Prince Philip has Netflix announces Jonathan Pryce will take on the role, joining Imelda Staunton & Lesley Manville in the final two seasons of the drama.
‘The Crown’ tells the inside story of two of the most famous addresses in the world – Buckingham Palace and 10 Downing Street – and the intrigues, love lives and machinations behind the great events that shaped the second half of the 20th century. The most recent third season saw Olivia Colman take over the role of Queen, as she faces a rapidly changing Britain, whilst her family continues to struggle against the needs of the monarchy and the wants of their fracturing personal lives.
Rather than keep the same cast across all six seasons and use makeup to age them, the producers opted to switch out the actors ever two seasons for new stars of a more appropriate age. Jonathan Pryce is set to take over the role of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, which was played by Matt Smith for Seasons 1 & 2, with Tobias Menzies taking over the part for Seasons 5 & 6. He is joined by Imelda Staunton, who takes over the role of Queen Elizabeth II from Olivia Colman, and Lesley Manville who takes over the part of Princess Margaret from Helena Bonham Carter.
“I am delighted to be working with Netflix again,” Jonathan Pryce commented. “The positive experience I had making The Two Popes has given me the confidence to tackle the daunting prospect of portraying Prince Philip. To be doing so with Peter Morgan in the company of Imelda and Lesley will be a joy.”
Along with the aforementioned ‘The Two Popes’, which he starred in opposite Anthony Hopkins for Netflix, Pryce has a long and acclaimed career across both tv and film. He has appeared in a wide range of films such as ‘Brazil’, ‘Glengarry Glen Ross’, ‘Tomorrow Never Dies’, the ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ movies, and most recently Terry Gilliam’s ‘The Man Who Killed Don Quixote’. His huge list of TV credits include dramas such as ‘Wolf Hall’, ‘Taboo’, and of course, playing The High Sparrow in ‘Game Of Thrones’.
Season 4 of ‘The Crown’, which just managed to finish filming before the pandemic lockdown, with be the final outing for the current cast and is expected to premiere late in 2020. As with the last cast change, the show will then take a year, meaning Season 5 will air in 2022.
We don’t know exactly at what point writer Peter Morgan plans to end the drama, but each previous season has covered around 10 years of history (plus or minus a few years). Season 1 goes from 1947 to 1955, with Season 2 covering 1956 to 1964, and Season 3 from 1964 to 1977. That would place Season 4 in the late 70s to late 80s, Season 5 in the 80s to 90s, and Season 6 likely to be 90s to 00s. The Queen did have her Golden Jubilee in 2002, so that seems to us to be the obvious place to stop, but we shall have to wait and see.
‘The Crown‘ Seasons 1 to 3 are available to stream on Netflix right now.
