Playing Queen Elizabeth on The Crown must come with a lot of pressure, especially because she was the reigning queen of England up until last year. However, Imelda Staunton faced a challenge that Claire Foy and Olivia Colman did not as she was playing the monarch and working on the show when she died. Now, the actress has opened up about what it was like to portray the Royal Family matriarch and work on Season 6 of The Crown following the queen’s death.
Following Season 6's premiere, Imelda Staunton – who joined The Crown cast in Season 5 and took over the role of The Queen from Olivia Colman – opened up about playing Queen Elizabeth, especially during a time of transition. Reflecting on the day she found out the monarch had died during an interview on The Graham Norton Show, the actress said:
Lesley Manville [who] plays Princess Margaret, and myself were filming and at lunchtime, we were told we might hear some sad news. And I was like ‘What do you mean?’ [They said] ‘about the Queen.’ And he said ‘Do you want to stop? Do you want to carry on?’ I said we’ll carry on. So we finished the day, we go home, and at about, sort of, the six o'clock news. And then weirdly, in the schedule, I had ten days off, which was the ten days of mourning. And I was inconsolable that night. I would have been, of course, sad. But obviously, I think I was fueled by living with her for so long.
The general fact that Staunton was playing The Queen on the show that’s among Netflix’s best series when she passed away must have been a lot to take in. However, considering the subject matter of the season, and the fact that she was playing Queen Elizabeth during the most modern part of her story, it must have added an extra layer of difficulty and emotion.
The final two parts of The Crown found themselves on Netflix’s 2023 TV schedule for November and December releases, which means they came out a little over a year after Queen Elizabeth died. Season 6, Part One, deals with the tragic death of Princess Diana, while Part Two focuses on the monarch’s reflection on her legacy, Prince William and Kate Middleton’s college years and the wedding of the now-King Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles.
Speaking about going back to set, and putting on her costume, which resembled outfits The Queen wore up until her death, Imelda Staunton explained how her presence impacted people on set too; she said:
And then, so I had my ten days, and I didn't want to watch a lot of things, but I did watch the funeral. And then I filmed the next day, and I think it was very difficult for people looking at me. I got my head around it, got dressed. But then we had a lot of supporting artists in that day, and then 'The Shape' walked on. And I think for them, it was quite hard.
When she referenced “The Shape,” she was referring to Queen Elizabeth's iconic look in her later years, and Graham Norton pointed out that this was the version of the monarch we’re all the most familiar with. That’s likely why this was so hard for everyone working on the set of The Crown following the death of the country’s longtime ruler.
Imelda Staunton finished out her discussion on this topic by simply saying that it was “hard” to shoot the final season after The Queen had passed away. However, they continued production, and now the final season of The Crown is available to stream with a Netflix subscription.
