Claire Foy rose to fame on Netflix’s The Crown, but the actress hung up her own (imitation) crown for good when she stepped down as the show’s Queen Elizabeth II last year, a role which earned her a Best Actress Golden Globe in 2017.
It was long rumoured that both 32-year-old Claire and her on-screen husband Matt Smith (Prince Philip) would only appear in the first two seasons of Netflix’s lavish period drama due to a sweeping time scale where each season spans the best part of a decade. Speaking at the BFI Radio Times TV Festival last year, the star confirmed our suspicions and explained why it’s a ‘real plus’ to have a role with a sell-by date of sorts.
‘That’s it, I’m on the bench. I’m not even on the bench – I’m just in a different team on my own. Unemployed!’ she joked, adding ‘that’s not a shock; we always knew when we signed up to it, and also not to be funny but it’s also a real plus.’
‘As an actor there’s nothing worse than the sound of “seven years,”’ she explained. ‘I’m sure to some people it sounds amazing but to us it’s like, seven years of playing the same person? And this is a tough job, you know? It’s long, a good nine-monther. And that’s a lot of your life that you sign over to it.’
‘I’m going to miss it terribly,’ she added. ‘But I just can’t wait to see where it goes, I just can’t wait.’
What is Claire Foy up to after finishing The Crown?
She may have stepped down from the throne, but 34-year-old Claire's screen career is going from strength to strength. The actress won her first Emmy in September 2018 for her portrayal of Queen Elizabeth, and will also star opposite Ryan Gosling in First Man, the latest film from La La Land director Damien Chazelle. Based on a biopic of Neil Armstrong, Claire portrays Armstrong's wife Janet.
Her next major role will be a major departure from the period dramas with which we've come to associate Claire: she'll play hacker Lisbeth Salander in the fourth film installment of Stieg Larsson's Millennium novels, The Girl In The Spider's Web, taking over the part from Rooney Mara.
Who will replace Claire Foy as Elizabeth II on The Crown series 3?
Earlier this year, it was confirmed after much industry whispering that Olivia Colman would replace Foy for season three. Netflix gave a first look at Colman (and her co-stars Helena Bonham Carter and Tobias Menzies, playing Princess Margaret and Prince Philip) in action back in July.
Who will play Prince Phillip in The Crown series 3?
Tobiaz Menzies will replace Matt Smith in season three.