The Crown (season 3)


The third season of The Crown follows the life and reign of Queen Elizabeth II. It consists of ten episodes and was released on Netflix on November 17, 2019.
Olivia Colman stars as Elizabeth, along with main cast members Tobias Menzies, Helena Bonham Carter, Ben Daniels, Jason Watkins, Marion Bailey, Erin Doherty, Jane Lapotaire, Charles Dance, Josh O'Connor, Geraldine Chaplin, Michael Maloney, Emerald Fennell, and Andrew Buchan. John Lithgow and Pip Torrens return in cameo appearances.

Premise

The Crown traces the life of Queen Elizabeth II from her wedding in 1947 through to the early 2000s.
Season three covers the time period between 1964 and 1977, beginning with Harold Wilson's election as prime minister and ending with the Silver Jubilee of Elizabeth II. Events depicted include the unmasking of the Queen's art adviser Sir Anthony Blunt as a Soviet spy, Harold Wilson and Edward Heath's respective times as prime minister, the Aberfan disaster, the Apollo 11 moon landing, the 1969 Investiture of Prince Charles, the death of the Duke of Windsor, the death and state funeral of Winston Churchill, and Princess Margaret's eight-year affair with baronet and gardening expert Roddy Llewellyn and suicide attempt that leads to the Princess's divorce from Antony Armstrong-Jones in 1978. US President Lyndon B. Johnson and Camilla Shand are also introduced.

Cast

Main

The following actors are credited in the opening titles of single episodes in which they play a significant role:

Production

Development

By October 2017, "early production" had begun on an anticipated third and fourth season, and by the following January, Netflix confirmed the series had been renewed for a third and fourth season.

Casting

The producers recast some roles with older actors every two seasons, as the timeline moves forward and the characters age. In October 2017, Olivia Colman was cast as Queen Elizabeth II for the third and fourth seasons. By January 2018, Helena Bonham Carter and Paul Bettany were in negotiations to portray Princess Margaret and Prince Philip, respectively, for these seasons. However, by the end of the month Bettany was forced to drop out due to the time commitment required. By the end of March 2018, Tobias Menzies was cast as Prince Philip for the third and fourth seasons. In early May 2018, Bonham Carter was confirmed to have been cast, alongside Jason Watkins as Prime Minister Harold Wilson. The next month, Ben Daniels was cast as Antony Armstrong-Jones for the third season, along with Erin Doherty joining the series as Princess Anne. A month later, Josh O'Connor and Marion Bailey were cast as Prince Charles and the Queen Mother, respectively, for the third and fourth seasons. In October 2018, Emerald Fennell was cast as Camilla Shand. In December 2018, Charles Dance was cast as Louis Mountbatten.

Filming

The third season began filming in July 2018.

Release

The third season was released on Netflix worldwide in its entirety on November 17, 2019, and consists of ten episodes.

Reception

reported a 90% approval rating for the third season based on 100 reviews, with an average rating of 8.54/10. Its critical consensus reads: "Olivia Colman shines, but as The Crown marches on in reliably luxurious fashion through time it finds space for the characters around her, providing ample opportunity for the appealing ensemble to gleam, too." On Metacritic, the season holds a score of 84 out of 100 based on 30 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".
Writing for The Daily Telegraph, Anita Singh called the series "by far, the best soap opera on television." The Los Angeles Timess Lorraine Ali praised the attention to historical detail and cast performances, particularly Colman and Bonham Carter. The Guardians Lucy Mangan praised the "top-notch performances" from the cast, adding that the season is "so confident and so precision-engineered that you don't notice the defects". Daniel Fienberg for The Hollywood Reporter judged the cast transition to be a success, adding the series "remains a model for carefully crafted episodic storytelling".
Some criticism was leveled at the lack of nuance from the writing. The BBC's Hugh Montgomery found the writing "increasingly on the nose", though the season was "the best yet". Alison Rowat from The Herald opined some scenes were "over-engineered" and dialogue "too on the nose", but nevertheless the series excels as a political drama. Vultures Jen Chaney similarly found the writing "a bit heavy-handed" in nevertheless "an absorbing, thoroughly enriching experience". Reviewing for Variety, Caroline Framke thought the series does not always succeed in humanizing the royal family, but when it does, it is "as compelling a portrait of how power warps individuals, and the world along with them, as exists on TV."
Ed Power from The Independent was less complimentary, praising Colman's performance but finding the series somewhat "colourless".