‘The Crown’ Actress Claire Foy And Actor Matt Smith To Leave Netflix Series In Season 3?

It certainly isn’t easy portraying Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip. Fortunately, “The Crown” actress Claire Foy and actor Matt Smith, who plays the respective characters, won’t be carrying the burden for too long.

During the weekend at the BFI & Radio Times Television Festival, Foy confirmed that she is leaving the series in Season 3. She said (via People), “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.’ 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?”

Foy and Smith will be stepping down from playing the queen and her husband in Season 3 since “The Crown” will jump several years into the future. The actors cannot possibly continue to play such old characters. Additionally, Foy started shooting for the Netflix drama’s freshman season soon after giving birth to her first child with husband Stephen Campbell Moore.

READ: Michael C. Hall joins the cast of “The Crown” in Season 2.

“I’m going to miss it terribly,” the 32-year-old actress added, “But I just can’t wait to see where it goes, I just can’t wait.”

Foy expertly portrayed the young queen in the early years of her reign in Season 1. She won a Golden Globe and a Screen Actors Guild Award for playing the English monarch.

Furthermore, seasons 3 and 4 are already being mapped out by the producers and writers of “The Crown.” Producer Susanne Mackie revealed that series creator Peter Morgan has planned “wonderful things” for the TV show.

Mackie also teased the introduction of a controversial figure in the royal family in Season 3. “You start meeting Camilla Parker Bowles in Season three,” she said (via Yahoo).

“The Crown” Season 2 begins in 1956 and highlights the Suez Crisis. It ends in 1963 with the resignation of Prime Minister Howard MacMillan.

Season 2 is expected to premiere in November.