We are still so far away from the third season of The Crown. Netflix will only confirm it’ll start sometime in 2019. To whet our appetites (or feed our addiction – you choose), they leak the occasional on-set pictures. The latest pics to hit the internet show Olivia Colman as Queen Elizabeth II in 1966 on her trip to pay respect to the victims of the terrible Aberfan landslide.
It remains one of the most touching moments of the Queen’s reign that is still remembered by the victims.
Now actress Olivia Colman has recreated the moment the monarch met families affected by the Aberfan disaster in 1966.
The tragedy is being recreated in the small Welsh village of Cwmaman for the next series of The Crown.
Bafta-winner Colman will star as the Queen in the third series of the hit drama to be shown next year.
She has been filming a recreation of events after the Aberfan tragedy on 21 October 1966, when a colliery waste tip collapsed, with slurry engulfing Pantglas Junior School in the village.
The Crown uses leaked stills to foreshadow each season’s overall theme. The first season’s photos featured The Queen with the crown being placed on her head, whether in ceremonial dress or everyday clothes, signifying her dedication to being bound by duty. The second season stills featured contrasting images of the royals in official situations with them at-home, looking wistfully out windows, representing conflict between duty and desire.
So it looks like S3 will focus on the tragedies that shaped QEII. Prior to these, the only other on-set images we’ve seen were of Olivia and Helen Bonham Carter, who plays Princess Margaret, at a funeral (probably Winston Churchill’s but Lord Mountbatten’s death will also happen in S3). QEII was deeply affected by the Aberfan disaster. Not only was she publicly criticized for not visiting the village for a full week until after the tragedy, it’s believed that she never forgave herself for waiting. She particularly empathized with the parents of the 116 school children who died because she had children their age. She’s memorialized the victims repeatedly throughout the decades, including returning to the town on four official visits. On the 50th anniversary of the landslide, she sent Prince Charles to represent her at the ceremony. The Crown loves to hypothesize the motivation and emotions behind Her Majesty’s actions and by the looks of it, they’re moving away from marital drama to focus on how external tragedy shaped her monarchy on both a professional and human level.
Yeah, I know, I’m giving this way too much thought. I honestly don’t think I am going to make it to the first episode. Gawd, I love this show.
Photo credit: WENN Photos and Getty Images
I love Olivia and Tobias and I love when Olivia and Tobias work together.
I was just re-watching theNight Manager and I thought ” Oh look it’s Angela Burr and Drumgoole” when I saw these pics ☺️
Tobias look younger than Matt Smith, wtf?
Philip was so insanely handsome
I can’t wait.
I can’t wait for the next season, but I’m glad they take the time to make it so good.
I wonder who will take over after Olivia Coleman and Tobias Menzies. I kind of hope they try to get Helen Mirren and James Cromwell – they did such a great job in The Queen, I can’t picture anyone else to do it.
I hope it is Mirren and Cromwell, too, but now I know that The Queen got one big thing wrong about Prince Philip. The Queen showed Philip to be Princess Diana’s greatest critic, but I recently read some of their correspondence, and it seems like Philip and Diana were quite warm and close with each other, and Philip never thought Charles would want to divorce Diana and was horrified when he started proceedings. I know a lot of in-laws who wouldn’t bother reaching out to the woman their son was divorcing, and the fact that Philip sent Diana such a loving letter (and she answered it, “Dear Pa”) told me that relationship was different than a lot of people think.
I cannot wait for Season 3.
Oh man she looks just like QEII. the costuming, makeup hair etc for this series is just so on point.
I don’t think Tobias looks that much like Philip, but I felt the same way about the first season – that Clare Foy REALLY looked liked the queen and Matt Smith didn’t quite look like Philip, but then his acting was so good that it was a non-issue. I’m really excited for the third season.
I’ve wondered if they chose Matt Smith because he resembles Harry a bit?
I cannot wait for season 3. I am the most excited to see how Tobias plays Phillip. Tobias is on another level of acting and is so underrated in my opinion.
Here to be a fan-girl for Olivia Colman.
First saw her in the absolutely absurd movie The Lobster, then loved her in The Night Manager. She brought me to tears with her performance in Broadchurch. And she’s delightfully evil as the stepmom in the series Fleabag.
Can’t wait to see her in The Crown.
Same.
*Loved* her in Beautiful People. What a cack 🙂
LOVE Coleman and Tobias is one of my internet boyfriends (yes I’m a hussy). I have yet to watch him in The Outlander as everyone I know who’s watched it yells at me to start but it’s not on Netflix and I refuse to pay for Amazon Prime.
He is AMAZING in Outlander. He absolutely terrified me as Black Jack Randall, like there were moments I could barely look at him on the screen because he made me so uncomfortably anxious. And yet, I was completely sympathetic to him when he played Frank. The fact that he never received any rewards for playing that duel role is a crime against humanity.
Outlander isn’t free on amazon prime either, I wish! You have to pay for a starz subscription or buy the seasons.
He’s one of my Internet boyfriends, too! Haha. That’s due to the terrific show The Terror. He’s amazing in it. (actually everyone is great in it. Kudos to the casting directors there).
I also haven’t seen Outlander. Too bad it’s not on Netflix.
He’s great in Outlander. It’s a great show altogether. Worth paying for.
Neflix is awesome!
I was born after Aberfan, but it was the terror of my earliest schooldays, whispered about on the playgrounds in my 70‘s infant school. I lived in terror of being buried under a slagheap even though there weren’t any slagheaps locally, and I think not knowing precisely what a slagheap increased the threat to my tiny mind. Rest In Peace, Aberfan victims, you won’t be forgotten.
I might finally start watching The Crown just because of Olivia Colman. I discovered her on the show Broadchurch (which is available on Netflix and also stars David Tennant). It’s a murder mystery show of a small boy in a sleepy coastal town in England and Olivia plays one of the detectives. The show is so good and she was amazing in it.
The first season of Broadchurch is amazing!!
Loved that show!
Are the first seasons still only available on Netflix?
This show has a clever premise and keeps me intrigued even though I’m not a royalist. Anyway, I’ve not watched Coleman (or I don’t recall) but I don’t doubt she would be pulling this off awesomely since I’ve heard great things.
Wow, Tobias’ look is spot on. I’m very much “jury’s out” when it comes to Coleman. Still recovering from learning that Claire Foy would not be back.
Never watched The Crown, but I can’t wait to do so. Honest question: do they ever attempt to make the actresses playing QEII even look like her, a little bit? I see they did prosthetics on Tobias to make him look like Philip. I just see no resemblance yet to Queen Elizabeth in the stills. Perhaps they nailed her mannerisms.
They better have because I’m still pissed off that Keri Russell was robbed…ROBBED, I tell you! of her Best Leading Actress in a Drama Emmy for The Americans.