The Crown’s Helena Bonham Carter admits feeling ‘overwhelmed’ by Netflix’s Princess Margaret casting shake-up

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ICONIC actress Helena Bonham-Carter films “overwhelmed” at having to hand over her role as Princess Margaret on Netflix’s The Crown to another actress.

Bonham-Carter, 54, plays the younger sister of Queen Elizabeth II in the smash hit series.

She took on the role for the Princess’ middle aged years in seasons three and four of the historical drama.

Helena Bonham-Carter, 54, feels overwhelmed about the casting shake-up on Netflix’s The Crown

The actress took over the role from Vanessa Kirby who played Princess Margaret in The Crown’s first two seasons.

Season four is yet to stream on Netflix, but Bonham-Carter will have to hand over the “baton” to Lesley Manville who’ll portray Margaret in The Crown’s final two seasons.

The actress compared multiple actresses handling the role to running a relay.

Vanessa Kirby was the first actress to play Princess Margaret on The Crown
Lesley Manville, 64, will play Princess Margaret in her final years

Bonham-Carter thinks she should use the infamous cigarette holder as a literal baton to pass to Manville

“It’s like handing a baton, it’s like this race that we’re all running,” Bonham-Carter told The Express.

“Vanessa Kirby was incredibly enthusiastic and kind and generous and gave me lots of tips.

“I said ‘Help! How do I do this?’ Because you can get a bit overwhelmed by all the research.”

The actress added: “And you know it’s conspicuous, you know people are going to watch it, which is a great gift.”

Kirby gave Bonham-Carter plenty of tips when she handed over the role

Even though she felt “overwhelmed” of handing the role over to Manville, the actress had some fun tips for her successor.

“Lesley, I feel like I should hand her the cigarette holder that I used, as a baton,” Bonham-Carter said.

“Over to you, woman. She’s going to have a great time with [Margaret], and I’m so chuffed it’s her, and she’s a great actress, and she’ll have great fun.”

Manville, 64, feels the pressure in taking on the role after following in the footsteps of Kirby and Bonham-Carter.

Manville said she felt pressure taking over from two ‘formidable’ actresses

“The baton is being passed on from two formidable actresses and I really don’t want to let the side down,” she said.

 The Crown season four had finished filming when lockdown was put in place in March 2020.

The hotly-anticipated fourth series will drop on November 15, 2020.

It will be available on the streaming site at 8am on that same day.

Imelda Staunton will play Queen Elizabeth in the final seasons of The Crown

Series four starts as the 1970s are drawing to a close, Queen Elizabeth (Olivia Colman) and her family find themselves preoccupied with safeguarding the line of succession by securing an appropriate bride for Prince Charles (Josh O’Connor), who is still unmarried at 30.

As the nation begins to feel the impact of divisive policies introduced by Britain’s first female Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher (Gillian Anderson), tensions arise between her and the Queen which only grow worse as Thatcher leads the country into the Falklands War, generating conflict within the Commonwealth.

While Charles’ romance with a young Lady Diana Spencer (Emma Corrin) provides a much-needed fairytale to unite the British people, behind closed doors, the Royal family is becoming increasingly divided.