‘The Crown’ Cast: 5 Fast Facts About Prince Philip Actor Tobias Menzies

“The Crown” Season 3 has finally found the right man to play Prince Philip. Tobias Menzies will take over for Matt Smith on the Netflix drama, so fans might want to know a few things about the actor.

1. Aging Prince Philip: At 44, Menzies is about nine years older than Smith, 35, but expect him to be aged as the series goes on. Smith played Philip for about 20 years of his life, with “The Crown” Season 2 leaving him at age 42. Menzies will likely play the Duke of Edinburgh into his the royal’s 50s or early 60s.

2. History With The Queen: Olivia Colman will replace Claire Foy as Queen Elizabeth in “The Crown” Season 3. Colman and her Prince Philip have shared the screen before. They both starred in AMC’s miniseries, “The Night Manager.”

3. Trained Actor: The London native attended graduated from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) in 1998. The talented thespian started getting jobs right away, with roles on British dramas like “Casualty” and “Foyle’s War.”

4. Historical Veteran: “The Crown” isn’t Menzies’ first period piece. Fans might recognize him from “Outlander,” where he played both a scholar in the early 20th century and a British officer in the 18th century. In “Doctor Who,” he portrayed a Soviet lieutenant during the Cold War while in “Rome” he was Brutus, Julius Caesar’s killer.

Currently, Menzies is starring in “The Terror,” which airs Mondays at 9 p.m. EDT on AMC. The series, inspired by a true story, follows a British Royal Navy crew in 1876 as they explore unchartered territory in the north. They need to figure out how to survive in the Arctic.

5. Almost An Athlete: Menzies told Interview that he didn’t grow up expecting to be an actor. He actually wanted to play sports professionally.

“My great passion as a child was tennis. I spent most of my childhood playing competitive tennis — a lot of tournaments,” he divulged. “That was what I was nuts about, what I used to dream about. The brutal truth was I probably wasn’t quite good enough. It can be a tough profession. In my mid to late teens I got interested more in girls — puberty [laughs] — and then suddenly I wasn’t playing so much.”

“The Crown” Season 3 does not yet have a premiere date. Menzies is expected to start filming this summer.