On set, we spoke to Claire Foy, Matt Smith, Vanessa Kirby and Matthew Goode about the new season that launches on December 8.
“Okay, bye guys,” says the third assistant director, chasing the press off the set politely as filming is about the begin. We are in Lancaster House, where they are filming episode seven of the Netflix series, The Crown season two. Today’s scene surrounds the moment that Prince Philip is told that his and Queen Elizabeth II’s third child is a son—and while the scene is being set up, the changing of the guards takes place outside these windows, at the Buckingham Palace.
The first season started with the royal couple’s 1947 wedding and ended with the start of the Suez Crisis. “Season two picks up from the Suez Crisis, and takes place from 1956 to 1963,” explains producer Andy Stebbing. The Crown is set to run for six seasons, each covering a decade of the queen’s life. All 10 episodes of season two will be available globally on Netflix on December 8.
While the show is widely known as one of Netflix’s most expensive series, the producers are tight-lipped when we ask about their infamous budget. But with a couple of days spent on set, from attending the filming of a motorbike scene on The Mall (a tree-lined royal road that leads up to the Buckingham Palace) and Lancaster House, to visiting different departments and the built sets at Elstree Studios, we can understand why the cost behind creating The Crown could be phenomenal: everyone is punctilious in getting the series accurate, down to the very last detail.
“They have a very good research team; I’m amazed at the amount of information that they know,” says David Rankin-Hunt, the series adviser who spent 33 years in the Royal Household. “And of course, the budget allows for the cast and crew to spend that little bit of extra money to get it exactly right. There has been very, very little that isn’t very accurate.”