This week has been filled with tremendous excitement for fans of Netflix's critically acclaimed drama The Crown. With the central roles having been recast to shift the timeline forward, lots of anticipation has been building around seeing the new actors taking on the royal roles. Earlier this week, Netflix released the first official glimpse of actress Olivia Colman as the Queen in Season 3, and hot on her heels is The Crown's first official look at Helena Bonham Carter's smoky portrayal of Princess Margaret. Here it is:
The Crown maintained royal custom with the Queen making her grand entrance first, and it did not take very long for a glimpse of the new Princess Margaret to follow. What a glimpse it is, too. The image captures Helena Bonham Carter's Margaret in a contemplative pose that has her looking upon her well-manicured fingers while gripping her cigarette's holder. On Twitter, Netflix captured the picture with "hope," which is an interesting word to use, as Margaret's disposition does not particularly appear to be all that hopeful.
Perhaps there is more to it than that. As was the case with fans' first look at the Queen in the upcoming season, the context surrounding a picture can change its meaning entirely. Is that a pleasurable smoke or a stress-filled one? As is the case with all first look stills from a show or movie, it is difficult to completely decipher how well the cast will do in stepping into the roles, especially here, where the roles were so memorably brought to the screen first by other actors.
So far, all of the initial photos are giving rise to great hope the new cast members are capturing the essence of their real-world counterparts with a pizzazz similar to their original portrayers. All of them are tough acts to follow. Thankfully, The Crown did not reserve today's first looks to only include Princess Margaret. The globally renowned drama also shared a look at Ben Daniels as Margaret's husband, Antony Armstrong-Jones. See the image below:
With this particular picture capturing Ben Daniels' Antony looking right into the camera, while holding his own camera, it is quite a different feeling than those inspired by the previous images. It is more in-your-face and slightly haunting as a result.
Still to come is a look at Outlander and Game of Thrones' Tobias Menzies in the role of Prince Philip. There is a lot of buzz surrounding all of the castings, and Philip is arguably one of the most high-profile recasts we've yet to see. There are still more days left in the week, too, so stay tuned.
A premiere date for The Crown Season 3 has not been announced yet. For content with definitive premiere dates on Netflix this year, check out our 2018 Netflix premiere rundown and when you are done reading that, our guide to Amazon Prime's premiere schedule. For new television content, while you wait for The Crown's return, check out CinemaBlend's guide to TV's summer premieres.
