Netflix's The Crown tells a familiar story: Girl meets boy, they fall in love, get married. Girl becomes queen of England. The Crown is the story of Queen Elizabeth II, the current reigning royal in Great Britain, with some heightened dramatics, of course.
"Definitely had an element of hesitation," Claire Foy, who plays Queen Elizabeth in the series, told E! News about playing the beloved monarch. "But then it was more exciting, it was a challenge in a way. There was going to be lots of elements to it that we had to get down, which was really an acting challenge I suppose. So that's the thing you then go, 'Oh gosh, there's a lot of work to do,' but it was really exciting."
The historical drama series also stars and Doctor Who's Matt Smith as her husband Prince Philip, with John Lithgow as Winston Churchill, Vanessa Kirby as Princess Margaret and Jared Harris as King George VI.
Smith agreed with Foy on the notoriety creating hesitation, but said there's a bit of a pause before taking any role. "But the writing was so good and I thought he was such an interesting conflicted character that I thought, ‘Yeah, this would be cool,'" Smith told us.
Will the royal family be watching? "Have they got a Netflix? Maybe we can get them a subscription," Harris joked.
Watch the video above for more from Foy, Smith, Harris, Lithgow and Kirby, including a message to Queen Elizabeth's family from Smith.
The Crown premieres on Netflix on Friday, Nov. 4.