This combination photo shows actress Imelda Staunton on the red carpet for the movie "Downton Abbey" at the Rome Film Fest in Rome on Oct. 19, 2019, left, and Britain's Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace in London on May 17, 1996. Staunton has been tapped to be the last actress to play the British monarch in the Netflix series "The Crown." She will take the crown in the fifth and final season of the series. (AP Photo)
By Mark Kennedy, Entertainment Writer
NEW YORK (AP) --
"The Crown," Netflix's hit drama series about the British royal family, will end earlier than expected and has revealed its next and last queen.
Show creator and showrunner Peter Morgan had said he expected to create six seasons, but now thinks five is the "perfect time and place to stop."
Imelda Staunton has been tapped to be the last actress to play Queen Elizabeth II. She will take the crown in the fifth season from Olivia Colman, who, in turn, succeeded Claire Foy. "Imelda is an astonishing talent and will be a fantastic successor," Morgan said in a statement Friday.
Staunton is an Olivier Award-winner whose films include "Vera Drake," "Nanny McPhee" and "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows." She played Lady Maud Bagshaw in the "Downton Abbey" movie.
"The Crown" has won a Golden Globe for best TV drama and both Foy and Colman have won best actress Globes in the royal role. Season three arrived on Netflix in December.
Television producer Mark Burnett, left, looks on as President Donald Trump arrives for the National Prayer Breakfast, Feb. 2, 2017, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)
Mark Burnett, the power producer who helped reintroduce Donald Trump to a national television audience with "The Apprentice," is being tapped by the president-elect as special envoy to the United Kingdom in his upcoming administration.
"With a distinguished career in television production and business, Mark brings a unique blend of diplomatic acumen and international recognition to this important role," Trump announced Saturday.
Burnett, who was born in London, helped produce hits like "Survivor" and "The Voice," but is perhaps best known for teaming up with Trump for "The Apprentice," which first aired on NBC in 2004.
Trump had been well-known in real estate and pop culture circles for decades. But the show helped again make him a household name — though Trump severed ties with NBC in 2015, the same year he launched his first White House run.
The selection of Burnett continues Trump's trend of filling out his incoming administration with people who have high-profile backgrounds in television or politics, or both — including his choice to be defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, a former co-host of "Fox & Friends Weekend," and ex-television doctor and unsuccessful Senate candidate in Pennsylvania, Mehmet Oz.
Trump's first campaign in 2016 was rocked by allegations about his conduct on "The Apprentice" and other appearances during his association with NBC, notably in footage in which he said he could sexually assault women and get away with it because he was a "star."
Almost a decade after he left his reality TV role, Trump's television career remains central to his biography and political rise. The show presented Trump Tower to tens of millions of people as a symbol of power and success before Trump launched his first... Read More
