We finally have our new Prince Philip, and it’s the cast crossover we didn’t know we wanted!
Tobias Menzies, of both Outlander and Game Of Thrones fame, is joining season three and four of the Netflix winner about Queen Elizabeth II.
He replaces Matt Smith who portrayed Prince Philip in the first two seasons of the biographical drama, and joins Olivia Coleman who has signed on to play Her Majesty (previously played by Claire Foy).
Deadline reports Tobias closed the deal this morning. It follows news The Avengers’ Paul Bettany has pulled out of the gig for unspecified reasons.
Olivia Coleman will replace Claire Foy at Queen Elizabeth II in The Crown.
Tobias is no stranger playing royalty. He recently starred as the Duke of Cornwall in a new BBC production of King Lear and stars as Lord Edmure Tully in Game Of Thrones.
He currently appears in Navy-based miniseries, The Terror.
Tobias Menzies replaces Matt Smith in the acclaimed drama.
Season three of The Crown is expected to take place in the mid-60s and with a new decade comes the new cast.
Explaining the decision to re-cast all the key players, creator Peter Morgan says: “I feel that when we reach 1963-64 we’ve gone as far as we can go with Claire Foy without having to do silly things in terms of makeup to make her look older.”
The Crown was one of the most expensive TV series’ ever made, costing $132million USD to make.
The Crown made headlines earlier this month when it was revealed Matt Smith (who came into the series backed by his celebrated run in Doctor Who) was paid more than co-star Claire Foy.
Production company, Left Bank has since apologised for the pay gap, adding, “”no one gets paid more than the Queen.”
As with Matt Smith and Claire Foy, we don’t expect Tobias and Olivia to stick around for long. Their roles are also set to be recast for seasons five and six.
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