Paul Bettany Eyed as the New Prince Philip in 'The Crown'
All hail, Prince Vision!
"The Crown" Season 3 on Netflix. Matt Smith played the role in the first two seasons, but it has been the prestige show's plan from the beginning to swap out the younger cast with actors closer to the ages of the real-life royals in their middle-age years.
Bettany would join the growing cast that now includes Olivia Colman stepping into Claire Foy's award-winning shoes as Queen Elizabeth II; and Helena Bonham Carter as Elizabeth's fiesty younger sister Princess Margaret, replacing Vanessa Kirby. (Interesting that, at 43, Olivia Colman is playing the older sister of HBC, who is 51.)
Paul Bettany, 46, seems to be more in demand than ever -- from playing Vision in the "Avengers" movies to his new role in "Solo: A Star Wars Story." If you're a Paul Bettany fan (and if you're not, who hurt you?) this is a great time to be alive. Variety noted that the role of Prince Philip would require Bettany to devote about six months to "The Crown" Season 3.
Some fans are unhappy about the swapping out of the amazing OG cast, but it is pretty refreshing that they're choosing to give roles to older actors instead of giving younger stars prosthetics and makeup to artificially age them. But we'll definitely miss the original cast, who set the bar incredibly high.
There's no premiere date yet for "The Crown" Season 3, and it's likely Netflix will release all of the confirmed new castings in one fell swoop once a new season announcement is made.
Bettany will next be seen in "Avengers: Infinity War," opening May 4, and then "Solo: A Star Wars Story," opening May 25th.
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