'The Crown' is probably the Netflix historical adaptation that takes place closest to reality. The series revolves around the British royal family and already has two seasons under its belt with Claire Foy and Matt Smith in the leading roles. Not long ago now, we reported about the significant pay gap between the two talents: things got so heated up that eventually, the production company behind the show, Left Bank Pictures, were forced to offer up an apology.
As a result of the salary gap, Claire Foy, the actress who's played Queen Elizabeth II throughout the past two seasons, is to receive compensation worth £200,000. The actress reportedly earned less than Smith, who played her on-screen husband, Prince Philip.
The Daily Mail have reported that, "the difference in the wages between Matt and Claire in the 20 episodes of the show...has all been amicably resolved". Smith earned £10,000 more per episode than his co-star, so the albeit late compensation aims to make up for that.
To begin with, the show's producers defended their decision to pay Foy less than Smith, arguing that the latter was much more well known given his portrayal of 'Doctor Who'. Despite that, Matt Smith stood alongside Foy and released a statement of his own, "Claire is one of my best friends and I believe that we should be paid equally and fairly and there should be equality for all. I support her completely and I'm pleased that it was resolved and they made amends for it because that's what needed to happen".
'The Crown' going forward
After two seasons of portraying the royals, Foy and Smith, alongside the rest of the cast, will be departing the series to make way for their replacements. The series is set to undergo a time-jump in its third and forth seasons and the creators behind the show wanted the cast to reflect this. The Queen and her husband will now be portrayed by Olivia Colman and Tobias Menzies. Both talents are pretty well known, Colman having worked, most recently, on 'Broadchurch', and Menzies on 'Outlander'. The two have worked together before on 'The Night Manager', another series, headlined by Tom Hiddleston and Hugh Laurie.
