Imelda Staunton To Take Over The Lead Role From Olivia Colman In Seasons 5 & 6 Of 'The Crown'

Even though Martin Scorsese proved that you can use the same actors to portray decades and decades of someone’s life, apparently the producers of “The Crown” on Netflix are going to stick with their decision to recast the lead role every couple of years. What started as a series led by the Emmy-winning Claire Foy has recently turned into a series starring Oscar-winning actress Olivia Colman. But moving into the future, there’s going to be a new actress wearing the titular headgear.

According to the Daily Mail, Oscar-nominated actress Imelda Staunton has been signed to take over the role of Queen Elizabeth II in seasons 5 and 6 of Netflix’s “The Crown.” She’ll be inheriting the role from actress Olivia Colman, who just debuted as the Royal in the third season that premiered recently. Colman will shoot one more season as the Queen before giving up the role after what people believe will be another time jump.

READ MORE: No Bones About It, ‘The Crown’ Season 3 Is Absolutely Magnificent [Review]

As mentioned, Staunton is an acclaimed actress that found herself nominated for an Oscar for her role in the 2004 film “Vera Drake.” However, she’s been in a number of high-profile films over the decades, including this year’s “Maleficent: Mistress of the Dark” and “The Downton Abbey” film. Previously, she’s also had success on the silver screen, as an Emmy-nominated actress in the 2012 TV movie “The Girl.”

No word on how the transition from Colman to Staunton will take place. It’s assumed that the story will jump ahead quite a bit, as it did when the cast for “The Crown” completely changed from Season 2 to Season 3. The report claims that the folks in charge of the Netflix drama are currently researching real-life stories that would make for good plots for the upcoming seasons.

The first three seasons of “The Crown” are available to stream on Netflix now.