Claire Foy: Emmy # 3 for ‘The Crown’?

Claire Foy made another wonderful return to “The Crown” last year as she featured once more as Queen Elizabeth in the Netflix drama.

Foy shot to stardom for her Emmy-winning turn as the Queen in the first two seasons of “The Crown,” in which she played opposite Matt Smith as Prince Philip. Then, she returned for the fourth season in a guest-starring role in episode eight. That won her another Emmy. Now, she’s back in the fifth season, which takes places in the 1990s.

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Imelda Staunton takes over the role of Queen Elizabeth for this season, which depicts several major events in the 1990s including the Queen’s “annus horribilis,” the public divorce of Prince Charles (Dominic West) and Princess Diana (Elizabeth Debicki), and the latter’s interview with “Panorama.” But it’s the return of Foy as a younger version of the Queen that caught fans attention the most. She appears in the season premiere as a younger Queen Elizabeth launches the Royal Yacht, Britannia, in 1953.

Foy slips seamlessly back into the role she was born for, capturing the youthful spirit of the fresh-faced Queen. Her role is contrasted nicely with Staunton’s portrayal of an older, more stony-faced Queen. Foy’s mannerisms and facial expressions are all on point once again, reminding us just how good she was in the role to begin with. And critics agree.

Michael Idato (Sydney Morning Herald) wrote: “The first episode of the new season begins by putting its best foot forward: actor Claire Foy, who played the Queen in the show’s first two seasons, returns to a chorus of approval from critics and fans. It’s a smart play, of course. Foy’s portrayal was luminous and compelling; were this Crufts, she would easily win best in show. Even after five seasons, she’s still the best thing ‘The Crown’ has delivered.”

Liz Kocan (Decider) explained: “Claire Foy can enjoy the fact that for as long as ‘The Crown’ is on, she will have the opportunity to appear at least once a season in some kind of flashback, and she opens the season for us in a fake newsreel clip of Queen Elizabeth II launching her new yacht, the HMY Britannia, back in 1953. Foy, and the ship, are shiny symbols of newness, they represent the dawn of a new era for Britain.”

Amanda Feinman (Slant Magazine) observed: “It’s fitting that ‘The Crown,’ Netflix’s retelling of the reign of Queen Elizabeth II, opens its fifth season with a callback to the 1954 launch of the Royal Yacht Britannia… The younger Elizabeth, as portrayed by Foy in seasons one and two, was a deeply feeling, energetic person who cultivated restraint to effectively lead.”

However, despite the overwhelming support from critics and fans alike for Foy’s fabulous return, the actress is currently outside of our predicted six nominees for Best Drama Guest Actress: Hiam Abbass (“Succession”), Fiona Shaw (“Andor”), Anna Torv (“The Last of Us”), Cherry Jones (“Succession”), Melanie Lynskey (“The Last of Us”), and Harriet Walter (“Succession”). But don’t rule out a Queen just yet — Emmy voters love Foy.

She was nominated for Best Drama Actress in 2017 (losing to Elisabeth Moss in “The Handmaid’s Tale”) and in 2018. She won in the latter year. Then, she took home the award for Best Drama Guest Actress in 2021. So, not only do we know that Emmy voters like Foy, we know that they like Foy as Queen Elizabeth, and we also know that they like Foy as Queen in Elizabeth in a guest-acting capacity. That is some cold, hard proof that suggests Foy is very much on voters’ radars. And why wouldn’t she be? Emmy voters love “The Crown.”

So far, the show has won a whopping 21 Emmys. Being involved in a show this beloved will always help your chances no matter what. But let’s dig a little deeper into Emmy voters’ love for this show. They specifically adore the performances, having awarded “The Crown” 17 nominations in total for its various actors’ roles. That is an incredible number. Season one garnered two bids, season two repaed four nominations, season three received two bids, and season four was greeted with a huge nine nominations.

Currently, we think that “The Crown” season five will be nominated for Best Drama Series, Best Drama Actress for Staunton, and Best Drama Supporting Actress for Debicki. The show is also on the precipice of a bid for Lesley Manville in the same category as Debicki, while it’s also close to a bid for Best Drama Supporting Actor bid for Jonathan Pryce. West is also up for Best Drama Actor, so the show could receive anywhere between two and five nominations for its acting. If the Emmy voters are really taken with this season, as they usually are with “The Crown,” it could be another very successful year for the show, and Foy could be right at the front of the queue to receive their rewards, particularly as Emmy voters really like the Queen.

So far, every season of “The Crown” has garnered at least one nomination for an actress playing Queen Elizabeth. In 2021, it earned two — to go with Foy’s guest-acting bid, Olivia Colman won Best Drama Actress. The same pair of nominations (for actors playing the same category) could well happen again this year if Staunton and Foy are both nominated. And they may well be because, as Foy’s two returns have proved — no matter how many new casts are unveiled or big names join the show, Foy is and always will be the face of “The Crown.” She is the one who launched the show with her stunning performance and voters haven’t forgotten that.

Plus, the guest-acting categories are full of actors appearing as characters they previously made their name as in a larger capacity. Jessica Lange was nominated for Best Drama Guest Actress for “American Horror Story: Apocalypse” in 2019 (Cherry Jones won that year for “The Handmaid’s Tale”) for playing Constance Langdon, a role she originated in the very first season of “American Horror Story,” which won her Best TV Movie/Limited Series Supporting Actress in 2012. In the same category in 2018, Viola Davis was nominated for playing Annalise Keating in “Scandal” (Samira Wiley won for “The Handmaid’s Tale”), a role that won her the Best Drama Actress Emmy in 2015 for “How to Get Away With Murder.” And Don Cheadle was nominated for Best Drama Guest Actor in 2021 (losing to Courtney B. Vance for “Lovecraft Country”) for his role as James Rhodes in “The Falcon and the Winter Soldier,” a character he played multiple times in various MCU movies beforehand. Foy proved this route to be successful herself with her own guest-acting win but she could repeat it here. First, however, she will have to land that nomination. And we think she just might.

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