Watch Season 3 of The Crown this weekend #BriFri

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Last week, I shared a flash mob at the Tower of London by the cast of the musical Six.

The third season of The Crown, a dramatization of the life and times of Queen Elizabeth, will be released on Netflix on Sunday. I enjoyed Season 1 and Season 2.

One reason I enjoyed the first two seasons was that they covered history in the couple of decades before I was born in 1962. That’s always been kind of a gap because the history that I studied in school stopped at the end of World War II. Season 3 will cover the time period from 1964 to 1977, so I’ll be seeing events that I remember, like the Apollo 11 mission to the moon, or was alive during, like the affair between Princess Margaret and Roddy Llewellyn.

Olivia Colman plays Queen Elizabeth in the third season of The Crown

New actors have been cast for some of the major roles for Season 3. I’m a little skeptical about making that transition since I really enjoyed Claire Foy as Queen Elizabeth, Matt Smith as Prince Philip, and Vanessa Kirby as Princes Margaret.

On the other hand, I loved Olivia Colman in Broadchurch, so I’m looking forward to seeing her portrayal of the Queen. I’m also excited about seeing Derek Jacobi (Cadfael and many other roles) as the Duke of Windsor, who abdicated the throne and transformed the lives of Elizabeth and her family.

I re-watched the first two seasons last month in anticipation of the release of Season 3. Usually, that’s a good idea. But, of course, it’s just made the previous actors more familiar to me, so we’ll see how I make this transition.

Are you planning to watch The Crown? My “To Watch” list is long right now, but I may let The Crown take precedence over what’s already there.