Many reports came up regarding this drama that it was facing difficulty finding an actor to play the unpopular and uncongenial royal for seasons five and six after the role appeared on the casting website Spotlight.
The team behind Netflix hit The Crown has denied “struggling” to cast the controversial part of Prince Andrew for the show’s upcoming seasons, which will see a switch in actors portraying the famous royal characters.
Season five of The Crown is set to start shooting in June 2021, and the show has so far lined up Imelda Staunton to take the throne from Olivia Colman as Queen Elizabeth, Jonathan Pryce to succeed Tobias Menzies as Prince Philip, Lesley Manville to take over from Helena Bonham Carter as Princess Margaret and Elizabeth Debicki to replace Emma Corin as Princess Diana. Dominic West is reportedly set to swap with Josh O’Connor as Prince Charles, this rearrangement is yet to be declared on an official note.
However, Prince Andrew is one role yet to be filled. The Crown team has been advertising on aspiring actor database Spotlight for an actor to fill the role, leading to speculation that they are struggling to fill the part. The role was played by Tom Byrne in season four which portrayed a younger Prince Andrew.
Reports are appearing in the U.K. press that the casting team was “struggling” to find anyone to play the unpopular royal, whose reputation plummeted after his friendship with convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein came to light and a car-crash interview he gave to the BBC in 2019.
The role was also seen on the casting website Spotlight, which was apparently advertised as a “very good role” for an actor in his mid-30s to early-40s. Although Prince Andrew was mostly a peripheral figure in season four of The Crown. Season five will mostly show his horribly failed marriage to Sarah Ferguson, which ended in divorce in the year 1996.
However, a spokesperson for The Crown has denied that there’s no issue for casting the prince. “There is absolutely no struggle to cast any role for season five of The Crown, and it is normal practice for productions to advertise in Spotlight,”
Prince Andrew took back from royal duties following an interview with BBC Newsnight in which he tried to explain his relation with Epstein. The interview got titled “disastrous” and “excruciating” after Virginia Roberts Giuffre made claims that she was forced to have sex with Prince Andrew three times between 2001 and 2002 at a sheer age of 17!
However, Andrew denied the allegations and said that at the time of one of the occasions it was reported to have happened, he had taken his daughter, Princess Beatrice, to a party at restaurant chain Pizza Express.