First look at Olivia Colman as Queen Elizabeth

WE’VE waited nine months for this and it was totally worth it. The Crown has released the first picture of its new Queen Elizabeth.

NETFLIX has revealed the first tantalising look at the new Queen Elizabeth for the third season of The Crown, now played by Olivia Colman who replaced Claire Foy.

The photo was shared by The Crown’s official Twitter account overnight and it portrays Colman as “Lilibet”, always stoic with that perfectly-in-place hair-do, an indiscernible expression and holding a cup of tea. How very English. How very royal.

Colman was cast to take over from Foy for the third and fourth seasons of the popular English drama. It was always the plan to cast older actors as the show moved on in the timeline. The first two series ran from Elizabeth’s marriage to Philip in 1947 to the birth of Prince Edward in 1964. By 1964, the Queen was 38 years old to Foy’s 34 years.

Colman’s casting was announced in October last year. She is best known for her roles in The Night Manager, Fleabag, Broadchurch, Peep Show and in the films Murder On The Orient Express and The Lobster. She will collaborate with The Lobster director Yorgos Lanthimos again in The Favourite alongside Rachel Weisz and Emma Stone.

Never show them what you’re thinking.

Season three is expected to span 1964 to 1976, which will likely cover the events surrounding Princess Margaret’s divorce and when Prince Charles first met a young Camilla Shand. Diana is not expected to be in these episodes — she didn’t come on the scene until just afterwards, in 1977.

Foy wasn’t the only cast member to be replaced — all the actors in the first two seasons joined the production with the understanding it was a two-season commitment.

Tobias Menzies (Game of Thrones, Outlander) will take over from Matt Smith as Prince Philip, Helena Bonham Carter (Fight Club) from Vanessa Kirby as Princess Margaret, and Ben Daniels (Law & Order UK, House of Cards) from Matthew Goode as Antony Armstrong-Jones.

But just because they’ll no longer be wandering the hallways of Buckingham Palace, don’t think you’ve seen the last of Foy and Kirby, who are now household names thanks to The Crown. Foy has two films out later this year with First Man and as Lisbeth Salander in The Girl In The Spider’s Web while Kirby will be in the next Mission Impossible instalment out later this month.

Claire Foy and Matt Smith are nominated for Emmys this year for their roles. Picture: Coco Van Oppens/Netflix via AP

At least we know Colman will be paid the same as her male co-star if not more after a pay gap scandal erupted when it was revealed Foy was paid less than Smith despite being the lead of The Crown.

“I’m surprised because I’m at the centre of it, and anything that I’m at the centre of like that is very, very odd, and feels very, very out of ordinary,” Foy told Entertainment Weekly at the time.

“But I’m not (surprised about the interest in the story) in the sense that it was a female-led drama,” she said. “I’m not surprised that people saw the story and went, ‘Oh that’s a bit odd.’ But I know that Matt feels the same that I do, that it’s odd to find yourself at the centre (of a story) that you didn’t particularly ask for.”

She was back-paid £200,000 after negative press coverage.

The Crown initially made headlines for being one of the most expensive TV productions with each episode costing about £5 million ($A9 million) to make.

Season three began filming this month and is expected the premiere on Netflix later this year.

Share your TV and movies obsessions with @wenleima on Twitter.