Meet your new on-screen monarch.
Ahead of the highly anticipated fifth season of Netflix's The Crown, the streaming service dropped a first look at actress Imelda Staunton in her role as Queen Elizabeth II. The popular drama centered around the royal family reportedly began production on the fifth season earlier this month and fans are gaining even more reasons to get excited with each sneak peek.
In an interview with the BBC earlier this year, the Harry Potter alum chatted about playing the role of a royal member and revisiting not-so-distant events within history.
"I think my sort of extra challenge, as if I needed it, is that I'm now doing the queen that we're a little more familiar with," Imelda explained. "With Claire Foy, it was almost history and now I'm playing one [queen] that people could say, ‘She doesn't do that,' ‘She's not like that,' and that's my personal bête noire."
However, Imelda is not the only star tasked with playing a modern royal. As dedicated viewers will remember, the entire cast gets replaced every two seasons, which means Imelda will be joined by Elizabeth Debecki, replacing Golden Globe winner Emma Corrin as Princess Diana, Jonathan Pryce taking over for Tobias Menzies as Prince Phillip, Dominic West stepping in for Josh O'Connor as Prince Charles and Lesley Manville taking the reins from Helena Bonham Carter as Princess Margaret.
But before you get your teacup ready, it's worth noting that the fifth season will not premiere until 2022. Until then, here's every crumb of information we know about the new season so far: