Vanessa Kirby Teases Helena Bonham Carter as Her ‘Crown’ Replacement

With the Netflix series The Crown set to cover multiple decades of Queen Elizabeth II’s life, the series’ showrunners have announced they will recast every major character every two seasons with older actors in order to show the passage of time.

While the replacement actress hasn’t officially been announced for Princess Margaret, Elizabeth’s younger and wilder sister played by actress Vanessa Kirby for the first two seasons, the 29-year-old upped fan speculation by posting a photo alongside Helena Bonham Carter on Instagram.

“Honoured,” Kirby wrote on Friday, tagging the show’s Instagram account

Claire Foy, who plays Queen Elizabeth, and Matt Smith, who plays Elizabeth’s husband Prince, were interviewed by Entertainment Tonight during the Golden Globes red carpet ceremony on Sunday. Smith nearly gave away the Carter news, but Foy held him back.

“That’s so exciting, Helena…” Smith said.

“Helena Bonham Carter is not official,” Foy interjected.

“Oh it’s not official, that’s true,” Smith said.

“He’s just really excited, it’s the first time he’s heard that,” Foy said it what appeared to be a cover-up.

Carter is no stranger to more eccentric roles, with some her most memorable performances coming from movies like Fight Club, Sweeney Todd and Corpse Bride, and most famously her performance as Bellatrix Lestrange in the Harry Potter series.

She’s also quite familiar playing members of the royal family, as her performance in the 2010 film The King’s Speech as Queen Elizabeth earned her an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress.

Olivia Coleman of The Night Manager has already been announced as the next actress to play Elizabeth, replacing Foy for seasons three and four.