Josh O’Connor talks The Crown Season 3, Olivia Colman and why he feels sorry for Prince Charles
Playing Prince Charles on the third season of The Crown turned Josh O’Connor from republican to royalist, but he couldn’t help but feel a little sorry for the Queen’s oldest son. This is the kind of king he thinks the royal will be, when the time comes.
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The first two seasons of Netflix’s The Crown, a dramatic retelling of the life of Queen Elizabeth II based on real events and educated speculation from creator and writer Peter Morgan, were met with universal acclaim and a swath of awards.
Season three leaps ahead in time to cover the years 1964-1977 and introduces a new cast, with newly minted Oscar-winner Olivia Colman replacing Claire Foy as the inscrutable Queen, Helena Bonham Carter taking over from Vanessa Kirby as scandal-prone Princess Margaret and Tobias Menzies stepping into Matt Smith’s sensible shoes as the irascible Prince Philip.
British actor Josh O’Connor (The Durrells, God’s Own Country) joins the cast as Prince Charles, who is stepping into his role as the Prince of Wales and meeting the love of his life, Camilla.
The first two seasons of The Crown were straight-up TV masterpieces – are you feeling the weight of expectation coming in with a new cast?
For sure. I loved the first two series and when we started work on it all of us were feeling that weight of “can we live up to it?” But I think with people like Olivia and Helena and Tobias at the helm, it always felt like we had some brilliant actors to follow on from. And a lot of the crew and directors had done the first two series, so we felt very supported.
I believe Vanessa Kirby is a friend of yours – had she given the experience the thumbs-up?
Vanessa is a really good friend of mine so she was really brilliant with advice about the job. I had already heard how much fun she had on it. They are so lovely as a group – I knew Matt Smith a little bit as well and they are all so good at what they do. It was a no-brainer when the role came along and I am most excited about that lot seeing it and seeing if they can enjoy it as audience members.
Did you have to audition for Charles or were you tapped on the shoulder?
I guess it was a little bit of both really. I was tapped on the shoulder and then met with them all and had a read and talked about the part and the job. I think it was a thing of discovery for all of us really – who is Charles beyond what we know in the press and as citizens of his nation? I remember coming away from the meeting thinking it was much more of a part than I thought. There is so much to him.
Where do you even start with someone as well-known as Charles – presumably you want this to be an interpretation rather than an impersonation …
For sure. In fact I will almost certainly nick that. That’s what I have been trying to explain for a while. Ultimately, I am not a mimic and I am not interested in trying to portray Charles in a way that we already know. But I did put in some work on his voice and how he walks and how he holds himself and how he interacts with people because I think we need for the audience to feel they are in safe hands. So I spent about three weeks on that and then we sort of just dropped it and I remember thinking, “this is a character and ultimately I have to serve the story more than the person”.
What did you make of Charles the man and how did your opinion of him change the move you found out about him?
I came into this as a Republican – pretty uninterested in the royal family. But I have reformed, totally switched and I adore Charles and have so much warmth for him. There is a huge understanding you get from playing someone but this year there have been lots of documentaries about him and he has come across so brilliantly. He has had an incredible life and at the heart of it is a very tricky predicament, where in order for his life to take meaning his mum has to die. That, as a philosophical predicament is huge. It was a pleasure to play and I certainly feel sympathy for him as a man.
Over the years, he’s had an image as a bit of a duffer – but was he actually a man ahead of his time?
Absolutely. The perception of Charles in the ’70s and ’80s was this big-eared bit of a joke, obsessed with the environment and climate change. We have so much respect for David Attenborough but Charles has been talking for many, many years about the cost to the environment from carbon emissions and we sort of thought he was loopy. He is a bit bumbly, but people just warm to that now. I think he’s adorable.
This is clearly a drama, but Charles is very much still alive, as are his children and grandchildren – is there a responsibility to get it right because of that?
It certainly feels sometimes like it’s a responsibility. If you are playing a person who is real and certainly if they are still alive and their children are still alive, there is a responsibility. But ultimately, this is a drama and we have real-life events, and what we are doing is going behind the closed doors to the stuff we don’t know. And that’s where the drama happens and the speculation. Peter’s writing, and hopefully our performances are sympathetic and endearing and we are trying to understand the human aspects of this extraordinary life. Often you catch yourself going, “I hope this is fair”, but you are trying to serve the story as well and it’s a constant battle and negotiation.
You had already worked with Olivia Colman on Les Miserables – what did you make of her?
She’s amazing, she’s brilliant in this and as a leading lady she is pretty inspirational. And at the heart of it she is the nicest, warmest person to work with. Despite our relationship on screen, off screen we are very close and she’s a brilliant person.
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What kind of king do you think Charles will make come the time?
I think he will be brilliant. He will be so lovely – a really nice, warm king. I think he will continue the tradition – he has learned so much from his mum and I am sure he will keep his views to himself. He’s a good man at the heart of it and he cares deeply about this country and your country and I think he will be a great leader.
— The Crown, Season 3, streams on Netflix from Sunday