Helena Bonham Carter is gearing up to play Princess Margaret in The Crown.
The Netflix royal drama is near a deal to have Carter take on the role in the upcoming third season, The Hollywood Reporter has learned. The Sweeney Todd and Alice in Wonderland star will take over the role from Vanessa Kirby, who played Margaret in the first two seasons.
The second season of the drama series from Peter Morgan launched Dec. 8 on the streamer. Margaret married Antony Armstrong-Jones, the Earl of Snowdon (Matthew Goode) and the season ended with her pregnant with one of their children.
The Crown has starred Claire Foy as Queen Elizabeth II, Matt Smith as Prince Philip, Victoria Hamilton as the Queen Mother and Jeremy Northam as Anthony Eden, along with newcomers Goode and Michael C. Hall.
Olivia Colman is set to replace Foy in her lead role as Her Royal Majesty for the show's third and fourth seasons (Netflix has yet to officially confirm the highly likely next two cycles). Along with Kirby, Smith will also be departing the series, as the characters are being recast to cover later years in the royal family’s lives.
Kirby had told THR she would be jealous of whoever gets to step into Princess Margaret’s shoes next: "I'm just so excited about whoever gets to do it because they've definitely got the coolest stuff coming up. Bring on the drama! I would have loved to have done it. I absolutely love to do all the blazing rows and getting drunk and just all of it. But I suppose I was lucky enough to have two seasons, so I could be more grateful, really.”
Carter is repped by WME and MGMT Entertainment.
