Imelda Staunton (‘The Crown’) hoping to follow in Emmy-winning footsteps of Olivia Colman, Claire Foy

“The Crown” concluded its six-season run in December 2023 with Imelda Staunton being the third and final actress to portray the iconic role of Queen Elizabeth II. The English actress took over the gig in Seasons 5 and 6, following Olivia Colman in Seasons 3 and 4, and Claire Foy in Seasons 1 and 2. Both Colman and Foy won Emmy Awards in the Best Drama Actress category for their second seasons as leads, so now Staunton is hoping to follow directly in their Emmy-winning footsteps. (Foy also claimed a guest actress trophy for appearing in a flashback during the fourth season.)

Season 6 of “The Crown” was split into two volumes on Netflix, with the first part focusing on the death of Princess Diana (Elizabeth Debicki) in 1997, and the second part detailing the Golden Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth in 2002 and the wedding of Prince Charles (Dominic West) and Camilla Parker Bowles (Olivia Williams) in 2005.

SEE Ryan Gosling, Da’Vine Joy Randolph among 36 first-time nominees at 2024 Emmy Awards

Perhaps the biggest acting spotlight for Staunton this year was in the series finale, titled “Sleep, Dearie Sleep,” directed by Stephen Daldry and written by showrunner Peter Morgan. As she reflects on her reign and plans for her own future funeral, Staunton’s Queen Elizabeth gets to interact with her younger selves, as played by Viola Prettejohn (teenage Elizabeth), Foy (young Elizabeth) and Colman (middle-aged Elizabeth). After hearing a royal bagpiper playing the tune “Sleep, Dearie, Sleep,” she chooses it as her funeral song, and the series ends with Queen Elizabeth seeing a vision of her coffin as she walks out of the church where Charles and Camilla just got married.

Staunton’s co-nominees in the Best Drama Actress category at the 2024 Emmys are Anna Sawai (“Shogun”), Jennifer Aniston (“The Morning Show”), Maya Erskine (“Mr. and Mrs. Smith”), Reese Witherspoon (“The Morning Show”) and Carrie Coon (“The Gilded Age”). Of this group, only Aniston and Witherspoon are prior Emmy winners, for “Friends” (2002 lead actress) and “Big Little Lies” (2017 producer), respectively.

Besides Imelda Staunton, other acting nominees from “The Crown’s” final season are Dominic West as a lead actor, Elizabeth Debicki and Lesley Manville as supporting actresses, Jonathan Pryce as a supporting actor, and Claire Foy as a guest actress. In all, Netflix’s regal drama received 18 Emmy nominations this year, bringing its six-season total to 87 bids, with 21 wins to date.

At a recent Emmy FYC event, Staunton spoke about her two years on the show, as well as the recent death of the woman she portrayed. “The legacy of ‘The Crown’ was probably foremost in my mind,” she began. “Because as Peter said, this is a drama about real people. So I was very honored to carry the baton, and I think it was challenging, difficult, and yet utterly rewarding for all of us to do these final two seasons. There’s no doubt that it was more difficult being the more recent Queen for me. I tried not to let that affect me, because I just had to also look at the script I was given. I just feel that we all took in her death. It was a terribly difficult and sad time. But then we carried on as I imagined she would’ve done. So it was a pretty extraordinary time.”

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