The Times Are A Changin’: The Trailer For ‘The Crown’ Season Three Is Heavy On Revolution

If there’s been one masterstroke of Netflix’s The Crown, it’s telling stories that we know, featuring characters that we see around us every day, in thoroughly unusual ways.

I mean, the protagonist of the series is literally printed on our currency. The Queen is one of those human beings that everybody feels like they have some kind of relationship with, and somehow twisting her into her own entity, outside of the endless parodies over the years, has been a real work of skill.

That’s particularly on display in the trailer for the third season, which charts the growing discontent of the ’80s and the ’90s and the Queen’s increasingly uncertain place in it. We’re now reaching extremely modern history — chances are your dad can (and would love to) recount the story of the miner’s strike. All of which means that the show’s tightrope act is becoming increasingly more impressive — pulling off cultural events that we all have memories of without falling flat on your face is a feat in and of itself.

The trailer also gives us our first extended look at a whole bunch of new characters. Claire Foy has abdicated her role as Elizabeth, handing over reins to newly Oscar-minted actress Olivia Colman. And boy howdy is Colman coming out of the gates hot on this one: even in the trimmed clips of the trailer she looks to be doing excellent work, embodying the characteristics of the monarch without ever falling into mere caricature.

Then there’s Helena Bonham Carter, AKA an international treasure. Slotting neatly into the role as Princess Margaret — a performance that she prepared for by no shit contacting a medium — Carter handles the insidious, borderline villainous dimension required of her with real grace and skill. Looks, unsurprisingly, like she’ll be the standout of the series.

Watch the trailer in full below. Then get ready: The Crown drops in full on November 17.