While we’re all devastated to be losing Matt Smith as Prince Phillip next season on the Crown, the news that Hugh Laurie may be swooping in as replacement has provided medical grade relief, of sorts.
Matt Smith somehow managed to make the extremely unlikable Prince Phillip likable, and for that we should all give thanks with our daily bread. However, we’ve all seen Hugh Laurie hobbling around on House with his cane and his sarcastic remarks. He was crabby. He was a curmudgeon. And we all loved him anyway. So we shouldn’t have to stress too much about him ruining the character.
So far, it’s looking like the next season’s cast might be as good as the last. Olivia Coleman has been previously confirmed as replacing Claire Foy’s Queen Lizzy, and Vanessa Kirby let slip via Instagram that Helena Bonham Carter will be our next Queen Margaret.
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The third season will also feature Prince Charles, Princess Anne, and Camilla Shand (her maiden name), which are all currently in the process of being cast. Princess Diana is also said to be appearing in the final episodes, but there has been no announcement yet as to who might take the role. The show’s casting director Nina Gold told Vanity Fair that because many of the character’s are very much alive, “we have to honour them by picking the right actor to play them—while making a link between the actors who played these characters in the first seasons.” Well so far, Nina, it looks like you’re doing a bang-up job.
The show’s creator Peter Morgan told the Daily Mail that he has offered Laurie the role, and that he’s “very keen” for Laurie to take it. The Crown is Netflix’s most expensive show and as such, I’m sure it’d be a pretty hard salary to turn down.
The Crown season three is currently in pre-production, and is set for release in early 2019.