‘The Crown’ Star Claire Foy ‘In Massive Denial’ About Leaving Netflix Drama

“The Crown” won’t be Claire Foy’s for long. The actress has finished filming Season 2 of the Netflix drama, and she will not reprise her role as Queen Elizabeth II in Season 3. However, Foy revealed that her exit hasn’t sunk in yet.

“I’m in massive denial,” Foy told Town and Country. “I don’t feel like it’s over. I’m waiting for it to hit me at some point that this stage of my life is finished, but it hasn’t happened yet.”

Rather than go the route of “This Is Us” and age young actors into senior citizens, “The Crown” plans to replace the stars every couple of years. The show follow’s Queen Elizabeth II’s life. The series started with her marriage to Prince Philip (Matt Smith) in 1947 when the Queen was 21 and the second season will take viewers up to 1964, when she turned 38. Foy is 33.

The actress has known from the beginning of the series that she would only do two years with the big budget drama. During BFI & Radio Times Television Festival in April, Foy said she had considered the short duration a good thing.

“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,” she explained (via Radio Times). “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? It’s long, a good nine-monther. And that’s a lot of your life that you sign over to it.”

“The Crown” fans still have another season to look forward to before saying goodbye to Foy and Smith. Season 2, which will start streaming in December, will feature plenty of drama for the royal couple.

“I think [Queen Elizabeth] starts to realize she needs to pay more attention to her personal life now that the other part of her life is going all right,” Foy teased to Entertainment Weekly. “She’s neglected her personal life, so there are all sorts of things she has to sort out.”

While Elizabeth and Philip struggle, they’ll still be expanding their brood. They’ll welcome their third and fourth children, Prince Andrew and Prince Edward. However, Elizabeth also has a monarchy to run.

In Season 2, the Queen will have to figure out how to handle the Suez Crisis as well as a political sex scandal. The Secretary of State for War’s affair with a teenage model will be made public. She’ll also meet new world leaders, including President John F. Kennedy (Michael C. Hall) and his wife Jackie (Jodi Balfour).

The new episodes are highly anticipated after earning rave reviews and accolades last year. The show won best drama and Foy won best actress in a drama at the Golden Globes. Foy and Lithgow picked up SAG Awards for their work as well. Currently, the series is nominated in 10 categories at the 2017 Emmys, which will be held Sept. 17.

All episodes of “The Crown” Season 2 will be released Friday, Dec. 8 on Netflix.