‘The Crown’ Season 3 begins filming: First photo of Olivia Colman as the Queen revealed

The new season of The Crown has finally started filming!

Netflix’s award-winning period drama about the reign of Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom debuted in November 2016 with Season 2 following in December 2017.

The third season will see the show’s entire cast being replaced by older actors as the story moves further into the second half of the 20th Century.

It was confirmed last year that Broadchurch star Olivia Colman will take over the role of Elizabeth from Claire Foy in the next two seasons. She too will then be replaced by an older actress in Season 5 and Season 6.

Here’s the first look at Colman in costume as the Queen:

Discussing how she chose Colman as Foy’s replacement, The Crown‘s casting director Nina Gold explained: “They each have such easy access to their humanity. They allow you to somehow see into them without really doing anything.”

The Crown is available to buy on DVD now.

Before the third season of The Crown arrives on Netflix, Olivia Colman will be playing another British royal, Queen Anne, in new period drama movie The Favourite. Born in 1665, Anne was the Queen of England, Scotland and Ireland from 1702 to 1707.