The second season of The Crown follows the life and reign of Queen Elizabeth II. It consists of ten episodes and was released by Netflix on 8 December 2017.
Claire Foy stars as Elizabeth, with main cast members Matt Smith, Vanessa Kirby, Jeremy Northam, Greg Wise, Victoria Hamilton, Alex Jennings and Lia Williams reprising their roles from the first season. Anton Lesser and Matthew Goode are added to the main cast. Original main cast members Jared Harris, John Lithgow, and Ben Miles also return in cameo appearances.
Premise
The Crown traces the life of Queen Elizabeth II from her wedding in 1947 through to the present day. Season two covers the period between 1956 and 1964.
Claire Foy continues to portray the Queen, and the season covers the Suez Crisis in 1956, the retirement of the Queen's third Prime Minister Harold Macmillan in 1963, following the Profumo affair political scandal, and the births of the Queen's two youngest children – Prince Andrew in 1960 and Prince Edward in 1964. The season also portrays John F. Kennedy, Jackie Kennedy and Lord Altrincham.
Cast
Main
Claire Foy as Queen Elizabeth II
Matt Smith as Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, Elizabeth's husband
Vanessa Kirby as Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon, Elizabeth's younger sister Jeremy Northam as Prime Minister Anthony Eden Anton Lesser as Harold Macmillan, Anthony Eden's successor as Prime Minister Greg Wise as Lord Mountbatten, Philip's ambitious uncle and great-grandson of Queen Victoria Victoria Hamilton as Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, King George VI's widow and Elizabeth's mother Matthew Goode as Antony Armstrong-Jones, a society photographer who marries Princess Margaret
Featured
The following actors are credited in the opening titles of up to two episodes: Alex Jennings as Prince Edward, Duke of Windsor, formerly King Edward VIII, who abdicated in favour of his younger brother in order to marry Wallis Simpson Lia Williams as Wallis, Duchess of Windsor, the Duke of Windsor's American wife John Heffernan as Lord Altrincham, a writer who pens a scathing criticism of the Queen Gemma Whelan as Patricia Campbell, a secretary who works with Altrincham and types up his editorial; later Lord Altrincham's wife Paul Sparks as Billy Graham, a prominent American preacher with whom Elizabeth consults Jared Harris as King George VI, Elizabeth's father, known to his family as Bertie John Lithgow as Sir Winston Churchill, the Queen's first Prime Minister Ben Miles as Group Captain Peter Townsend, George VI's former equerry and Princess Margaret's ex-fiancé Michael C. Hall as John F. Kennedy, 35th President of the United States Jodi Balfour as Jacqueline Kennedy, the First Lady of the United States Burghart Klaußner as Dr Kurt Hahn, the founder of Gordonstoun school Finn Elliot as school-aged Prince Philip Julian Baring as school-aged Prince Charles
