One of the more interesting creative choices by those responsible for making the Netflix series The Crown has been the recasting of the main characters every two seasons. Though it could have ended up being a real fumble in less capable hands, it’s actually worked quite well, particularly since Claire Foy and Olivia Colman are such amazing actresses, able to bring out the complexities and complications of this most fascinating monarch.
What’s more, both can convincingly lay claim to being the best person to portray Queen Elizabeth, a woman who has reigned for over half a century.
10 Claire Foy: Captures The Angst Of A Young Monarch
The first two seasons of the series largely focused on Elizabeth’s efforts to negotiate the fraught territory of the monarchy in a period of remarkable transition. This was, after all, an England still grappling with the effects of the Second World War.
What makes Foy such an excellent choice for the role is that she manages to capture so much of the anxiety and worry that Elizabeth must have felt as she grappled with both her position and a rapidly changing nation.
9 Olivia Colman: Her Ability To Capture Elizabeth’s Sadness
As the years go by, Elizabeth has to contend with the fact that not only is she aging, but her country is aging with her. At one point, she even remarks that under her tenure, the nation that she loves and has devoted her life to has begun a slow and steady decline (at one point, she even gazes at a portrait of Claire Foy's Elizabeth).
One core aspect of Colman’s performance is that she allows the audience to see beneath Elizabeth’s strong facade to the sadness that often lurks beneath, a reminder of just how much she’s given up for her nation (and it helps that she looks quite a lot like middle-aged Elizabeth).
8 Claire Foy: Her Steely Delivery And Determination
In the early years of her reign, Elizabeth has to contend with all sorts of trials, both personally and publicly, which the series depicts with varying accuracy. Among other things, she has to deal with the disintegration of the British Empire and the numerous challenges to her authority, particularly from her irascible husband Philip.
A lesser actress might have been overwhelmed by the demands of this role, but Claire Foy rises to the challenge, again and again, giving audiences an Elizabeth with a steel spine and an iron soul.
7 Olivia Colman: Her Ability To Convey Elizabeth’s Relationships With Her Children
Though Elizabeth’s children are largely off-screen for most of the first two seasons (with some exceptions), they become a more central part of the drama in the third and fourth seasons. As a result, the audience sees a great deal more of their interactions with their mother.
Olivia Colman invites the audience to understand the vexed relationship that she has with her children, for while she clearly loves them, she can’t help but also feel a bit distant from them (and they from her).
6 Claire Foy: Her Strange Chemistry With Matt Smith
Though Philip might be a bit of a jerk in the first two seasons, there’s no doubt that Matt Smith is truly magnificent in the role, allowing the consort to be more than just a caricature.
There’s also undeniable chemistry between Smith and Foy, and the audience can well believe that these are two people that are truly in love with one another, even if they do have to overcome some truly great obstacles to their relationship and the proper functioning of their marriage.
5 Olivia Colman: Her Chemistry With Tobias Menzies
If there’s one person in the cast who can match Olivia Colman’s Elizabeth, it’s Tobias Menzies as Philip, who gives one of his best performances. Watching the two of them on-screen, one can well believe that these are two people who have spent a significant part of their lives together.
It’s more than just seeming to inhabit the characters, however. There’s a warmth to their relationship that, when it shows up, makes one almost believe that they are actually watching the royal couple together in their most intimate and tender moments.
4 Claire Foy: She Captures The Complications Of A Monarch In The Postwar Era
There’s no question that Britain went through quite a lot in the years after World War II. After all, that conflict had shaken almost everything that the world believed in. As the series shows, Elizabeth was more than capable of handling this, though it would no doubt have crushed someone less capable.
In Claire Foy’s equally capable hands, the viewer gets to see how determined Elizabeth is to do her duty, no matter how much of a personal cost it may take.
3 Olivia Colman: Her Ability To Capture Elizabeth’s Inflexibility
It’s not really surprising that as she gets older, Elizabeth would find it more and more difficult to change and adapt to the times (especially since she was never really known for her flexibility in most aspects of her life).
It would have been very easy for Colman to make Elizabeth unlikable or unsympathetic, but instead, she allows the viewer to gain at least some understanding of Elizabeth, even as she also forces an acknowledgment of some of Elizabeth’s most egregious mistakes.
2 Claire Foy: How She Conveys Strength And Vulnerability
It takes a pretty special sort of actress to be able to capture both strength and vulnerability. It’s a tough trick to pull off, and it’s even harder to do well. How fortunate for viewers, then, that Claire Foy was chosen to portray the young Elizabeth.
Time and again as the first and second seasons unfold, the series shows Elizabeth as a woman contending with the difficulties in her marriage yet strong enough to handle the various public crises that affect her country.
1 Olivia Colman: How She Conveys Elizabeth’s Durability
One thing can be said of Queen Elizabeth, and that is that she is an institution. No matter what happens in the series, she knows that she is the embodiment of the Crown, something that the rest of her people look up to.
A less capable actress would no doubt have made her into something of a caricature, a relic from a bygone era. While Colman does allow the viewer to see Elizabeth’s inflexibility, she also emphasizes the fact that the Queen is nothing if not enduring.
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