The Crown makers struggling to find an actor to play Prince Andrew

The Crown producers are struggling to find an actor to play ‘unpopular’ Prince Andrew in the fifth series of the Netflix drama, an insider claims

• Forthcoming fifth series of hit royal drama will cover time span of 1991 to 1997
• Will see an actor replace Tom Byrne, 26, as Andrew in his mid 30s to early 40s
• Demand to play role is so low producers are advertising job on actors database
•  Comes after Duke of York’s disastrous Newsnight interview with Emily Maitlis 

The Crown producers are reportedly struggling to find an actor to play Prince Andrew in the fifth season of the Netflix show. 

The forthcoming series of the hit royal drama will cover 1991 to 1997 and see an older actor replace Tom Byrne, 26, as Andrew in his mid 30s to early 40s – but bosses are allegedly struggling to find a replacement.  

It comes over a year after the Duke of York’s disastrous Newsnight interview with Emily Maitlis, where he was questioned over his friendship with billionaire paedophile Jeffrey Epstein. 

Demand to play Andrew in The Crown is so low that producers have advertised the a job on the actors database Spotlight – trying to attract potential candidates by labelling it a ‘very good role’, according to the Sun. 

Producers of The Crown are struggling to find an actor to play Prince Andrew in the upcoming fifth series of the Netflix show. Pictured: Andrew earlier this month at the Duke of Edinburgh’s funeral at Windsor Castle

The forthcoming series of the hit royal drama will cover 1991 to 1997 and see an older actor replace Tom Byrne, 26, (pictured) as Andrew in his mid 30s to early 40s

‘Prince Andrew is one of the most unpopular members of the royal family and wannabe stars aren’t exactly queuing up to play him,’ a casting source told the publication. 

‘It’s not the sexiest role and is unlikely to set a Hollywood career alight.’  

Newcomer Byrne revealed in November last year admitted he had to ‘switch part of his brain off’ to get into the role of playing the controversial royal.

Describing it as ‘an odd time’, Tom said that he made a ‘concerted effort’ to avoid reading stories or watching the interview as he ‘didn’t need to bring his own judgement into the role’. 

The actor, who had recently graduated Bristol’s Old Vic theatre school, began filming the Golden Globe-wining series in autumn 2019, shortly after the royal’s infamous Newsnight interview. 

Demand to play the prince is so low that producers have advertised the job on Spotlight, a database for actors, as a ‘very good role’. Pictured, the Duke of York in 1997 in New York 

In the BBC interview, the Duke of York – who has denied any wrongdoing – infamously said he was at Pizza Express Woking on a night he had been accused of going to a night club with Virginia Giuffre, adding that he couldn’t sweat due to a rare medical condition.  

Filming for series five of The Crown is set to commence this summer, with Imelda Staunton taking over from Olivia Colman as the Queen.

Emma Corrin is set to be replaced by Elizabeth Debicki, 30, for the final two seasons and Dominic West will succeed Josh O’Connor as Charles.

Jonathan Pryce, 73, will take over the role of Prince Philip, who passed away earlier this month at the age of 99, and will portray the royal throughout the 1990s. 

The difficulty to cast an actor as Andrew comes over a year after Duke of York’s disastrous Newsnight interview with Emily Maitlis, where he was questioned over his friendship with billionaire paedophile Jeffrey Epstein

Royal correspondent Michael Cole predicted the series, which is expected to cover Diana’s relationship with Dodi Fayed and her death in August 1997, will contain plenty of ‘dramatic material and startling revelations’.  

Last month Martin Childs, the production designer on The Crown, said while he couldn’t divulge details, scripts for the forthcoming series are ‘juicy’. 

But royal author Hugo Vickers told the Express: ‘In my view all 40 episodes are [unpalatable]. And as they approach the present day, they seem to be getting worse. There was quite a backlash against season four.’

The show has already faced widespread criticism over its ‘twisted’ depiction of the Firm, which portrays Charles as callous and self-serving and his mother the Queen as cold.

The fourth series of The Crown, which premiered last November, shows Charles meeting and marrying an innocent Diana while maintaining his affair with the then-married Camilla Parker-Bowles. Pictured Corrin and Josh O’Connor in The Crown

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