Netflix’s royal drama The Crown is adding a new jewel to its collection next season. Dexter star Michael C. Hall will be joining the cast of the mega-budget historical drama. Presumably his body count will be slightly lower on this show.
The Crown is riding high on critical acclaim at the moment, having just taken home a pair of Golden Globes last month: one for lead actress Claire Foy, who plays young Princess/Queen Elizabeth II, and one for Best Drama Series. The praise has been damn near universal, with the series currently rating a 90% Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes. The show’s second season is expected in fall 2017, and “will segue into the 1960s, as Queen Elizabeth II loses her third prime minister to scandal amidst the illegal use of Her Majesty’s Armed Forces in Egypt.” That’s where Hall comes in…as John F. Kennedy.
That’s definitely some solid casting, and Hall will make the second major Dexter veteran to land a major role on The Crown. In the first season, Dexter‘s John Lithgow played the larger-than-life British Prime Minister Winston Churchill. Per Deadline, season two’s new cast additions will also include Jodi Balfour (Quarry) as Jacqueline Kennedy and Matthew Goode (Watchmen) as Princess Margaret’s (Vanessa Kirby) husband, Tony Armstrong-Jones.
If all goes to plan, creator Peter Morgan has said that The Crown is intended to run for six seasons, with each season clocking in at 10 episodes. Obviously, that is intended to trace the long arc of Elizabeth’s life, so the stated plan was to recast the major roles ever couple of seasons. If they stick with that notion, Foy would step aside for an older actress beginning with season 3. Of course, it’s always possible Netflix could decline to renew the show, but given its solid buzz and the streaming network’s track record, that seems unlikely.
