In a masterstroke of period drama crossover casting, a key Downton Abbey cast member is set to join the second series of Netflix’s The Crown.
Matthew Goode, who has also appeared in The Imitation Game and A Single Man, played racing driver Henry Talbot, the man who eventually married Michelle Dockery’s Lady Mary in Downton’s final season. In The Crown, the 38-year-old actor will again portray Antony Armstrong Jones, best known as Lord Snowden.
The society photographer, who passed away earlier this year at the age of 86, got engaged to Princess Margaret shortly after the end of her contentious relationship with Peter Townsend came to an end (Townsend was a 40-something divorcé, and therefore not marriage material for the young Princess). The pair married in 1960 and stayed together for 18 years, though their partnership was to prove tumultuous and filled with scandal.
Filming has already begun for series two of Netflix’s Golden Globe-winning series, which is expected to arrive on the streaming service in November. Picking up in 1956, it will start with the Suez crisis and carry on through into the mid 60s.
Once we’ve binged-watched our way through that second season, it’ll be time to say goodbye to Claire Foy’s Queen Elizabeth, Matt Smith’s Prince Philip, Vanessa Kirby’s Princess Margaret and the entire supporting cast. With each series of The Crown tackling one decade of the Queen’s reign, the Radio Times reports that producers ‘are currently searching for an actress to play the new-look Queen who will be in her 40s and 50s.’
Late last year, it was revealed that we'll have to wait until series three to see Princess Diana make her Crown debut, so casting is presumably underway to find an actress to portray the 'People's Princess.'
READ MORE: The Crown: The £100 Million Netflix Drama You're Going To Love