The Crown Season 4 isn’t being released for another two weeks or so (November 15th), and Netflix has been doing a bang-up job of teasing “the season where everything changes” for months now. No one has even seen one full episode of this season and Emma Corrin is already a big star, just built on the hype of her turn as Diana. Olivia Colman is doing her cold, prissy best as the Queen, and Helena Bonham Carter as Princess Margaret, etc. While everyone is – rightly – talking about Emma-as-Diana, I’ve been saying this whole time that Gillian Anderson is probably going to sweep the awards for her turn as Margaret Thatcher. Peter Morgan has alluded to the idea that this season is built around Thatcher, not Diana. But really, the season is about how those two women (Maggie and Di) shook up the Windsors in profound and ominous ways.
Netflix released a decent-length trailer a few weeks ago, and I assumed it would be the final trailer, especially given how well-cut it was and the ominous vibe, the disaster unfolding in an almost chilling way. But Netflix decided that we needed another trailer and HOLY SH-T. It’s SOOO GOOD.
So real talk: I actually don’t think Gillian Anderson captures Thatcher’s voice at all? It reminds me of John Lithgow’s Winston Churchill, who sounded absolutely nothing like the real Churchill. There are audio files and videos, people! I swear to God, anyone can check out what the real people sounded like and Churchill’s accent never wavered into a mid-Atlantic Americanese. Gillian’s Thatcher sounds like Gillian was called up to a stage and asked to improv Thatcher’s voice from memory.
All that being said, damn this looks good and interesting. “Bend. Or Break.” Or, you know, you could just be a loving, functional family?? Jesus.
Here’s the other trailer, from a few weeks ago.
And here’s The Smith’s “How Soon Is Now,” which you can hear in the latest trailer (Morrissey must be sick about licensing this song to Netflix for THE CROWN):
’The Crown’ promotional photos/posters courtesy of Netflix and Vanity Fair.
I almost forgot that Gillian Anderson is American after the brit shows she has been bagging.
Technically she’s both. She was born in America, then raised in the UK during elementary school and came back to the US in her teen years. But I believe her parents are British. She has been living in London for quite some time now.
She’s bidialectal, having spent much of her childhood in London. Anderson comes by that English accent naturally. I learned this was a thing due to her discussing it on chat shows!
@hindulovegod Ohhhh, like John Barrowman! “Bidialectal,” thank you. Barrowman was born in Scotland, but his melodious American accent is very specifically from the Chicago ‘burbs. He and his sister have gone on chat shows and demonstrated how easy it is to fall in and out of either accent. (A little over a decade ago, I remember seeing an IMDb user complain on a forum that Barrowman’s was “the worst American accent [he’d] ever heard.” Wonderful.)
My children are bi-dialectal — the oldest having been born in England and spending the majority of her childhood in America, and the younger two having been born in America but now being raised in England. The ease at which they can slip in and out of their accents depending on who they are talking to — it’s akin to listening to bilingual people speak.
This season is going to be AMAZING. I don’t even really care about Thatcher’s voice being dead-on or not, there is something about the cadence or the strength to her voice that Anderson captures. That scene with her and Colman talking about their age difference – chills.
I am not surprised this season will be heavy on Thatcher and less so on Diana. I think the Diana focus will be mainly setting her up as the young ingénue, the unexpected star, and then the next season will focus on the marriage crash, the divorce, etc.
The dinner conversation among the queen, queen mother and Margaret was so cold. damn.
The dinner conversation was chilling. And so applicable to today. They really don’t learn from their mistakes.
I believe it’s 50/50. It’s supposed to cover 1979 to 1990. There will be plenty of both of them. They introduce Diana when she’s 16 and meets Charles for the first time when he’s dating her sister.
If this season goes to 1990, then is the next Diana only playing one season, or will they drag out the period from 1990-1997 over two seasons? My theory the whole time had been that they will end the series with the death of Diana, but I don’t think that’s going to be the ending point now. Maybe the death of the Queen mother and Margaret?
@Becks: I think Season 5 will go up to 1997 so yes Elizabeth Debicki will only play her for one season and then Season 6 will go up to 2002 (QM/Margaret’s death or golden jubilee) or up to 2005 (Charles and Camilla’s wedding)
I doubt they’ll go any further than that (Morgan himself has said he doesn’t like writing about stuff that isn’t 20 ish years old yet) and they get to avoid delving too deeply into the late teens/young adulthood of William and Harry.
@Sofia I think they’re definitely going to avoid introducing Kate, so ending it in 2002 would make sense. Especially if the final season comes out around 2022/2023, that would be 20 years for Morgan.
Why didn’t he marry the sister? Seems more age appropriate match.
I agree that the latest they go is 2002. Ending this at a jubilee can end it on a higher note.
@aang – I think she turned him down, LOL. Not sure if he actually proposed or not though.
Maybe she wasn’t “tidy” enough for them?, maybe she had, you know, a “past”? How things have changed in a generation, and still the firm is crippled. They should’ve allowed changes according to the real times.
@aang IIRC Sarah (Diana’s sister) gave an interview to reporters about her relationship with Charles. In said interview, she apparently mentioned having some sort of scrapbook with newspaper clippings about her that she would she to her “royal grandchildren” in the future. So basically the relationship had gone to her head. She showed Charles the article and he got furious so the relationship ended.
I think part of the speech is also due to the prosthetic teeth she’s wearing. Just watching the clip it seemed “uncomfortable”?? (The same thing occurred to me when watching Rami Malek doing Freddy Mercury; those false teeth were distracting). Or like she had trouble getting her lips around them? She *does* have the same “clipped cadence” I remember (vaguely) from Thatcher (mostly from clips in other films, like Billy Elliot , which I rewatched recently lol). I think she’s nailed that…and that wig!!!
These clips look SO GOOD I cannot WAIT for this to come on. I am going to have to ration it though, to make it last. It always takes SO LONG for the next seasons to come!
I have GOT to catch up! I’m still on season 3 and struggling to find time to watch it between my boyfriend not being interested and my obsession with Masterchef Australia.
I can’t even express how excited I am to see this! I’m 1000% sure when the producers conceived this season they were watching history repeat itself with Meghan and decided to make comparisons. It’s so obvious in the trailer with Margaret stating that the family never learns from its mistakes.
This season is gonna set so many people off!
I remember visiting London & Devon in 1981 just before the wedding. I was just a tween but I remember the Brixton riots were going on in London then and there was a lot of talk among the “grown ups” about Thatcher and unemployment. The stores were all filled with wedding swag which was a strange contrast to the unease. Interesting time – this season should be good…
I’m excited to watch and I think Gillian and Emma will give us award winning performances but my unpopular opinion remains that this isn’t the anti-monarchist show everyone thinks/wants it to be. From the interviews I’ve seen it seems Thatcher will be humanised or something which leads me to not have much hope for Diana. I think it’ll make the royals villains but sympathetic villains who are also victims themselves of the institution.
That’s been my vibe of the whole series – that the royals are villains but sympathetic villains. Like Phillip is an asshole who (maybe probably) cheated on his wife, and isn’t very nice to her or the rest of the family, but his backstory was clearly meant to shed some light on that. And in some ways, I’m okay with that. People aren’t black and white. Phillip can be an asshole as a result of his family/childhood/upbringing, but it doesn’t excuse being an asshole, you know?
So far, over the first three seasons as a whole, I think ultimately the Queen comes off as the least sympathetic. Maybe that’s just how Colman plays her.
I am interested to see what they do with Diana – from the trailer it seems they’re leaning in hard to the young princess who was in over her head and just wanted to be loved and went off the deep end when she couldn’t get the love in her marriage. Like I think they’re going to play up her mental issues.
Well, Diana was quite open about her issues so I expect them to fully tackle them.
I agree. But even with the queen, she’s gets a lot of passes (in show) I guess by people going “she’s the monarch! She’s supposed to do this!” It’s not nearly justified to the extent they do with Philip’s behaviour/attitude but just enough.
@Snuffles yes but I think they’re going to play them up more like “she was so flawed of course the marriage failed.” I don’t know. It will be interesting to see .The Diana propaganda has swung back and forth over the past few decades but I hope Morgan takes a more nuanced approach.
The queen doesn’t always come across as the most sympathetic person, but mostly I see her as stuck in a thankless role in a gilded cage that she is ill-suited for. Philip is a product of his time, circumstances and fragile ego. I like the fact that every single last character has very visible flaws, and that you clearly see that life within the royal house is going to warp you.
Diana is fascinating, and i’m looking fora quality and non-saccharine take on her life. She is either glorified as a saint or put down as a mentally unstable ticking bomb. How would any of us have reacted if we’d married a crown prince in our teens and subjected to tabloid scrutiny and the royal cold shoulder? I don’t think I would have had her fortitude or ability to make lemonade with significant charity work. I hope they portray her struggles and strengths, her flaws and her triumphs.
This show is the monarchy porn everyone loves outside of the UK. I don’t get this obsession. They are such bores.
I’m in the UK and I enjoy this show because I think it’s brilliantly produced and acted. But yeah it’s not super real or super damming against the royals but that doesn’t stop me from enjoying it the way I want to – great actors acting out great writing.
After watching the scene between Thatcher and Liz, I am suuuuuper excited!!
Esp as its long been reported they did not get along and that TQ did not like her.
I think they can make Thatcher a villain without bringing in the Queen. Even the trailer is making the Queen look more sympathetic to the peasants than Thatcher was. Also, apartheid was an issue where the Queen did not agree with Thatcher. That mostly came out because Brian Mulroney opposed apartheid and was one of the few leaders at the time against it. He seemed to imply that the Queen supported him on that. Of course he is a blow hard, but this would be an issue where the Queen can look good and Thatcher not so much
I think this is the season i might start watching – i remember that time well. Anderson does a good job of Thatcher, doesn’t quite capture that distinctive voice.
@becks1 I don’t get that from the trailer. I get that Diana is flawed but I also see them portraying the family as cold and unfeeling and not equipped to compassionately deal with Diana. As the adults in the room, everyone in that institution should have seen that she was far too young and troubled to be placed in such a high pressure role.
But, as usual, they didn’t care. She looked good on paper, had the right aristocratic credentials, was virtuous and pretty.
Well, like I said, from the trailer, it seems they’re leaning in hard to the idea of the young princess who was in over her head and the family was not equipped to deal with her for a variety of reasons. but the scenes of her dancing and such make me wonder how they’re going to deal with the collapse of the marriage. We’ll see how it shakes out.
I actually loved the dancing part. I remember that Diana loved dancing and used to fantasize about becoming a ballerina until she grew too tall. And, I also learned from the trailer that she actually performed on stage in front of everyone a dance routine with a famous dancer and brought the house down.
https://www.goodhousekeeping.com/uk/news/amp574646/wayne-sleep-reveals-what-it-was-like-dancing-with-princess-diana/
So using her love of dance as a vehicle for showing how she coped with the stress is brilliant my opinion.
Wow, holy wow. I think GA captures MT’s voice well. But I am not very familiar with her as some here are more experts.
I love the question PMargret asks: how many times must this family repeat the same mistakes? In all honesty watching this unfold (The Crown) it seems like the BRF is also cursed like the Monaco Royal Family is said to be.
Even being Margaret Thatcher can’t hide how beautiful Gillian Anderson is.
I hate that cover of How Soon is Now.
But I love the Smiths. Their music reflects my current pre-election mood right now. Them and Portishead.
I can’t view the clip b/c its restricted so I literally switched right over from watching ER on Hulu to Netflix to watch it!
Yeah the voice is off but the enunciation is better, but there’s only so much you can do to transform into someone.
I think this looks amazing but I am not buying GA as Thatcher at all. It just looks like Anderson playing Thatcher but wanting us to know she is playing her
It would make sense that Thatcher be the major focus. Yes, Charles and Diana had the wedding and the babies but there was so much else going on: the IRA and hunger strikes; the shutdown of the mines and the unrest that caused; the dealings with the USSR.
Gillian Anderson looks phenomenal in this role. She got a lot of flack for taking it but can’t wait to see it. I’m not crazy on Olivia Coleman as the Queen, I feel like the way she plays her is a bit satirical and am distracted by her weird expressions. She gives off this weird energy that doesn’t translate as Elizabeth. Of course I’m mostly interested in the Diana part. There’s bound to be comparisons to what’s happening now, but the context is not the same. These people have been messy and dysfunctional forever, fancy wallpaper over the cracks, so this is nothing new.
My thoughts exactly on Olivia Coleman’s portrayal. It’s a bit like the emperor’s new clothes when it comes to her these days. I personally feel like Olivia Coleman PLAYS Olivia Coleman in every role and she was woefully miscast in this. I can’t wait to see what Imelda Staunton does next season.
I feel that way about Helena. I think she’s a wonderful actress and enjoy watching her on screen but HBC is well, HBC.
Omg I can’t wait to see this. The scene with Margaret foreteling how they torment royal wives until they “bow” and submit like we’ve seen with kate & sophie got me. I’m looking forward to this and the last one as the comparisons between Diana and Meghan will be very clear. These people dont learn. I hope they get pushback or at least it gets trending & gets them humiliated by uk tabs
Olivia is very Olivia overrated in this. I’m curious about Gillian she could be a power and steal the show. We’ll see.
It seems to me like they’re setting up some kind of good vs evil dichotomy between the Queen and Margaret Thatcher. The Queen gets to come off as the “progressive” for a change, but then again, who wouldn’t next to “There Is No Such Thing As A Society” Milk Snatcher?
Opposing Apartheid is the only moral stance to ever have taken on the issue, and everyone who failed to do so, in the 19fucking80s, was in support of a vile, despicable institution that brought out the absolute worst of humanity.
Approaching the Troubles in Northern Ireland with a sense of nuance, a real desire to make peace, and an open ear for the ways in which people were divided and their voices gerrymandered out of political influence, was the only principled stance to take. It was the only way groups like the IRA were actually, finally, brought to the bargaining table for the Good Friday Agreement.
Looking around and realizing that a society, of which you are the figurative head and symbol of, is being systematically starved, stripped for parts, and its very fabric destroyed, and knowing that this is not the sort of leadership someone with actual power is supposed to display, that this sort of leadership is vile and cruel and heartless, is the only moral, principled stance to take. To see the suffering of your fellow human and to feel bad, and to feel angry about how people in power are responsible for that suffering, is what normal people with compassion do in this world.
I’m not interested in Peter Morgan or any other sycophant dressing this shit up to make the Queen look good. People put their lives on the line every day to challenge these things, to push for real change. And they suffered the consequences. I am not holding my breath for any real, institutional criticism from anyone who is responsible for this show, because they have no interest in that sort of thing. Their primary interest is in pretending like they don’t know how focusing the story on the “human” aspect of things is essentially propaganda for these people. It’s meant to prevent you from feeling angry and from criticizing these institutions, by showing you a human face to them.
“They’re people just like us.” Yeah, well, I don’t live in a castle with a gold-plated piano, I don’t have millions of dollars in the bank, and I don’t have a son who’s a fucking pedophile. How exactly is she “like” me, and why am I supposed to relate to any of this?