She may have been the Princess of Wales, but Princess Diana will be portrayed by an actress from Down Under in the final seasons of The Crown.
The acclaimed Netflix royal biopic has cast Australian actress Elizabeth Debicki as the late princess for its fifth and sixth series.
The Night Manager star, 29, will take over the role from Emma Corrin, who will play Princess Diana through to the show's yet-to-be-released fourth season.
"Princess Diana's spirit, her words and her actions live in the hearts of so many," Debicki said in a statement posted by The Crown's official Twitter account.
"It is my true privilege and honour to be joining this masterful series, which has had me absolutely hooked from episode one."
Debicki, who also starred in 2013's The Great Gatsby, joins Jonathan Pryce and Imelda Staunton – who play Prince Philip and Queen Elizabeth II – in the cast for the series' final hurrah.
Pryce, 73, takes over the role of the Duke of Edinburgh from Matt Smith and Tobias Menzies, while Staunton, 64, takes the crown from Olivia Colman and Claire Foy.
The award-winning Netflix series charts Queen Elizabeth II's long-standing reign, from her formative years to the modern day. However, because it covers such a long stretch of time, actors and actresses are recast every two seasons.
Elizabeth Debicki will play Princess Diana in the final two seasons of The Crown (Seasons 5 and 6). pic.twitter.com/Z3CjHuJ56B
— The Crown (@TheCrownNetflix) August 16, 2020
The other confirmed star for The Crown's final two seasons is Lesley Manville, who will feature as Princess Margaret, taking over the role from Helena Bonham Carter.
Season four of The Crown is set to come out later this year. It will cover Margaret Thatcher's turn as prime minister, played by Gillian Anderson, as well as Prince Charles and Princess Diana's turbulent marriage.
The final two series are expected to include the princess's death in 1997, which plunged the Royal Family into an annus horribilis.
Despite initially claiming the fifth season would be the last, show creator and writer Peter Morgan last month confirmed a sixth season would be forthcoming.
"As we started to discuss the storylines for series five, it soon became clear that in order to do justice to the richness and complexity of the story we should go back to the original plan and do six seasons.
"To be clear, series six will not bring us any closer to present day – it will simply enable us to cover the same period in greater detail," Morgan said in an interview with Deadline in July.
