The Crown casts Lydia Leonard as Cherie Blair in season 5
The Gentleman Jack star will reportedly play Tony Blair's wife.
We still have a while to wait before The Crown season five lands on Netflix, with the hit drama's release date set for November 2022, but casting for the key players in the next chapter of the royal family's affairs appears to be well under way.
According to The Sun, the latest addition to the cast is Lydia Leonard, who will reportedly be stepping into the shoes of Cherie Blair, Prime Minister Tony Blair's wife. Leonard is best known for playing Suranne Jones' lover Marianna Lawton in Gentleman Jack.
It's also been revealed that Jones' Doctor Foster co-star Bertie Carvel will play the Prime Minister himself. Carvel is no stranger to the royal drama, having already played Sir Robin Day in The Crown season two.
RadioTimes.com has reached out to Netflix for confirmation of the casting news.
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Leonard and Carvel would be joining Dominic West as the new Prince Charles and Elizabeth Debicki as Princess Diana. The events leading up to the couple's separation and the event itself will likely be the focus of the fifth series, with The Queen herself – who will be played by Imelda Staunton – famously calling 1992 an “annus horribilis”.
Though John Major – who will be played by Jonny Lee Miller – was Prime Minister at the time, the Blairs' casting for season five suggests the series will also cover Diana's death in 1997, when Tony Blair took over as PM.
With a sixth and final season confirmed, however, it's likely Diana's death will take place at the end of season five, and the fallout and aftermath will be covered in series six.
Discover the real history behind The Crown from our friends at History Extra.
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