Season 1 of The Crown was an immediate success. Here we look at Season Two’s cast, story, release date, and more.
Updated: December 8, 2017
Check out the Release Date section for footage of the World Premiere!
We finally have another trailer for Season 2 of The Crown! The show will return on December 8, 2017, for an installment that star Claire Foy, called “completely different, like a completely different show in a way.”
Some of the questions we have seem to be answered in the new trailer. It hints at Prince Philip’s alleged infidelity. We can also see a huge shift in the opinion of the monarchy. Watch the trailer below and read on for everything else we know about the second season so far.
Backstory
With the world undergoing great changes, a damaged British monarchy must confront its past in order to have a future:
Netflix’s lavish period drama The Crown follows the life and times of Elizabeth II and the impact her rise to power had on her family, her government and her people. Inspired by writer Peter Morgan’s play The Audience, season one focused primarily on Elizabeth. The second season will be expanding to the people around her, especially her husband Phillip.
Created by two-time Oscar nominee Peter Morgan (The Queen, Frost/Nixon), filming for season two began before season one had even aired. Ted Sarandos, Netflix’s chief content officer, says of the show
“We’ll see it lay out over decades. We’ve seen a lot of things about Queen Elizabeth, but we’ve already learned more about her than we ever had by watching the first 10 hours.”
In other words, don’t fall too in love with the current cast. Moving forward, the show will be covering about a decade a season and use different actors as the characters age. Series writer Peter Morgan is planning to tell the Queen’s story over six seasons in total. That covers a lot of territories.
Robert Viglasky/Netflix
Behind The Scenes
Filming started on the second season before the first season of The Crown had even aired. Good for us because it gives us clues as to the storyline.
Matt Smith takes a selfie on set in Cape Town.
Netflix has committed to authenticity. Scale replicas were built. The attention to detail is astonishing, from a vintage train to distressed wartime wallpaper.
Using lifesize replicas of Buckingham Palace and Downing Street , The Crown is one of the most lavish television dramas ever made. Getting the period details right is crucial to the production. They have researched everything from the sets to the costumes to the wrappers on the candies to get everything just right.
The Cast
Most of the main cast from the first season are expected to return, including Claire Foy (Queen Elizabeth), Matt Smith (Prince Philip), Vanessa Kirby (Princess Margaret), Victoria Hamilton (the Queen Mother) and Jeremy Northam (Antony Eden).
Joining the cast will be Matthew Goode (Downton Abbey) who will play Antony Armstrong-Jones, also known as society photographer Lord Snowdon. He was married to Princess Margaret from 1960 to 1978.
Michael C. Hall (Six Feet Under, Dexter) will play US president John F. Kennedy and he is joined by Jodi Balfour (Bomb Girls) who has been cast as First Lady Jackie Kennedy.
The Story: Season 2 Plot
Season 2 Will Focus on Prince Phillip and Prince Charles
The first season covered the period between the Queen’s marriage to Philip in 1947 to the disintegration of Princess Margaret’s engagement to Peter Townsend in 1955.
Speaking to Vanity Fair, Claire Foy said:
“We go up to [the year] ‘63, ‘64. So we span about another seven, eight years. The first series was very much about the family and her finding her role after her father died and coming into her own, and this second series is very much about the outside world.”
The show will still center around Queen Elizabeth II, but expect to see more of the men in her life in the second season.
“We start to focus on Charles as a young boy and his education, and on Philip and his back story,” creator Peter Morgan told People.
He expanded saying “Its soul is about Prince Philip’s complexity,” Morgan said of the second season. “I find him extraordinarily interesting–his childhood, again, you couldn’t make it up. The soul of season two is about his complexity.”
Season 2 will also focus on the complexity of their marriage.
Princess Margaret: A Force To Be Reckoned With
The series will delve into Princess Margaret’s marriage to Antony Armstrong-Jones, as well as her “naughty” behavior.
Princess Margaret, Season 2
“Vanessa [Kirby, who plays Princess Margaret] explodes this season. We always knew she was a great actress, but she explodes. It’s a very identifiable tragedy, to have someone in the family with more apparent charisma and yet no use for it…She finds love and pain. I promise you, it’s properly painful.” -Peter Morgan
Matthew Goode (Downton Abbey) is Armstrong-Jones, a royal photographer who became Lord Snowdon after he married the Queen’s sister.
The Kennedys
The second season will also cover the years that John F. Kennedy and his glamorous wife Jackie were in the White House. In June of 1961, the Queen hosted a dinner at Buckingham Palace for President Kennedy and the First Lady.
Kennedy’s entire presidency falls within the timeline of season two, meaning that his inauguration, the First Couple’s dinner at Buckingham Palace in June of 1961, and his assassination could all play a role in the plot.
The Trailer
The first teaser trailer:
Release Date
Today, November 21st, Netflix hosted the World Premiere of The Crown Season 2 at London’s Leicester Square. Here’s a glimpse of the cast and creators on the red carpet. The Crown Season 2 premieres December 8th, 2017.
Season 2 Final Trailer
Unanswered Questions
- Will the affair be covered? This seems to be answered in the new Season 2 trailer. It appears it will be covered.
- Will JFK’s assassination be part of the plot?
Season 3 is in the works
Netflix recently announced that 43-year-old Broadchurch star Olivia Coleman will play the Queen next season.
Bookmark this page. It will be updated regularly with info as it becomes available!
Netflix Synopsis: "Inspired by real events, this fictional dramatization tells the story of Queen Elizabeth II and the political and personal events that shaped her reign."
