The Crown Season 3 air date, spoilers: Casting director drops major hints about cast change

This question has been making the rounds for a long time — who will play Matt Smith and Vanessa Kirby in Netflix drama the Crown Season 3?

According to several reports, Iron Man actor Paul Bettany was supposed to replace Matt Smith to play the character of Prince Philip and veteran actress Helena Bonham Carter to play the role of Princess Margaret.

Meanwhile, Broadchurch actress Olivia Colman has already been confirmed to step in as Queen Elizabeth II in the third season of the royal drama, replacing Golden Globes-winning actress Claire Foy.

But apart from the cast, fans are eager to know what The Crown Season 3 will be focussing on. Teasing that, The Crown casting director Nina Gold has spilled out some significant details about the upcoming season.

In an interaction with Vanity Fair, she said, "Charles, Camilla, and Anne are going to be pretty interesting characters to follow, because they are just coming into their own."

She adds: "We've cast a pretty wide net for these new young characters."

So, as there is no confirmation about who will play all these royal characters, Nina told Vanity Fair, "We're looking for a quite wide age range, which is quite challenging. I think we're going from 1964 when we start. Then we have to get him to about 16 to the late twenties. There are a lot of changes in any young man's life at that spread of ages."

"But I think ultimately, it's not really about the numbers on somebody's birth certificate as it is how they feel, and how far each individual can stretch their age range, which is really variable from person to person."

Not only this, Nina also added that she is looking for another nuance while casting the characters — actor's ability to mimic the upper-class mannerisms.

She explains: "There are so many tiny, intangible signifiers of class and status that we don't even realise.

"In the 60s and even 70s, the class distinctions were more extreme than they are now. But we need actors who can speak that way and embrace it, so it sounds authentic coming from them. It's a pretty difficult balance."

The Crown Season 2 aired in December 2017. But there is no official announcement about The Crown Season 3 air date.