Claire Foy, Matt Smith Walk Final Carpet as Royals at ‘The Crown’ Season 2 Premiere in London
Cast, crew, and honored guests arrived Tuesday night to take temporary royal residence in Leicester Square’s Odeon, the host of the second coronation of Netflix’s “The Crown.”
First to arrive, a pair of majestic dogs gracefully leaped from a blacked-out car and onto the red carpet. Excited commotion quickly resonated through the surrounding fenced-off commoners. The canine couple — the queen’s favorite furry friends, the Corgis — then disappeared inside the cinema, opening the crimson floor for a second set of regal stars, Claire Foy and Matt Smith, to follow suit with their red carpet evening stroll. It was the final walk for the series’ two stars, whose roles will be taken over by a new king and queen next season.
The show’s fresh new season, set much during the debauched 1960s — a period that ignited Princess Margaret’s public party persona — was the talk of the carpet. “You think you know the story and you don’t,” said Smith of the pending installments.
Creator Peter Morgan and partner Gillian Anderson then arrived, quickly separating to different sides of the carpet thanks to a segregating black rope — dividing cast and crew from the attending hoi polloi. Asked if he envied or pitied the Royals’ existence, Morgan answered, “Both. Somebody asked me today if what I’ve done is the saga of a prisoner. It’s a level of duty and a commitment to a job … most people’s career spans are 20 years.”
After being ousted in Season 1, Ben Miles dusted himself off from playing an ill-fated love interest. Musing if his character would return for the commissioned Season 3, he said, “No, I think unless they do a spinoff series … well, you know, he bought a Land Rover and drove around the world, on his own. So I’m hoping for a kind of ‘The Crown’ meets ‘Top Gear’ sort of show.”
Season 2 of “The Crown” streams Dec. 8 on Netflix.
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