Netflix Original The Crown released a first look at season five’s Queen Elizabeth, played by Imelda Staunton, to a tepid reception last weekend. Put simply, she share bared distinct resemblance to her former character, Dolores Umbridge in Harry Potter. We haven’t received an official first look at Elizabeth Debicki‘s portrayal of Princess Diana but in a paparazzi shot from the set, it seems we’ll be wowed by the transformation.
In images obtained by Daily Mail (see them here), Debicki can be seen shooting scenes outside Ardverikie Lodge in Scotland with two young actors playing Prince William and Prince Harry. Costuming is reminiscent to Princess Diana’s own signature style: ’80s style mum jeans, an oversized blazer, a button-up shirt and cropped hair cut. The boys wore matching striped rugby shirts.
While the pictures are low-res, it does lend insight into the incredible transformation. Though really, Debicki was born for this role.
“Princess Diana’s spirit, her words and her actions live in the hearts of so many,” Debicki said in a statement to Twitter last year. “It is my true privilege and honour to be joining this masterful series, which has had me absolutely hooked from episode one.”
Elizabeth Debicki will play Princess Diana in the final two seasons of The Crown (Seasons 5 and 6). pic.twitter.com/Z3CjHuJ56B
— The Crown (@TheCrownNetflix) August 16, 2020
While filming has commenced, we won’t see The Crown season five on Netflix until 2022. The sixth and final season is expected to air in 2023. Showrunner Peter Morgan explained he needed a break to write and shoot the next season in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter.
“It’s a normal schedule for us because what happens is, as you’ve noticed, we filmed The Crown in two-season chunks, so we had Claire Foy for two seasons, we’ve now got Olivia Colman for two seasons,” Morgan said. “And there was a gap year in there in which I frantically do a draft of all the scripts, and then I rewrite the scripts and polish the scripts after that — but at least we have a roadmap of where we’re going for the two seasons.”
Last week Emma Corrin spoke on how excited she was handing the Diana baton to Debicki.
“I’m really excited about it. I think Elizabeth is brilliant and I think that it’s totally right to allow her to take on a different kind of life for the next part of [Diana’s] journey,” Corrin told the publication. “So I’ll be really excited to see what happens.”
Stay tuned for further developments.