John Lithgow will play Winston Churchill on Netflix’s The Crown

By Sam Barsanti | June 18, 2015 | 10:43pm

Aux Features TV

As reported by Deadline, John Lithgow has joined Netflix’s Queen Elizabeth II series, The Crown. He’ll be playing Winston Churchill, an important figure from recent British history who most Americans will recognize as “that guy from World Ward II.” Joining Lithgow will be Claire Foy (Wolf Hall and Crossbones) and Matt Smith (Doctor Who and probably other things). Foy will be playing the Queen herself, and Smith will be Philip Mountbatten, the Duke Of Edinburgh—he’s the guy married to the Queen, for anyone who is inexplicably ignorant of the British royal family.

The Crown is going to take a decades-long look at the life of Queen Elizabeth II, and it’s coming from writer Peter Morgan, who knows a thing or two about Queen Elizabeth II after writing 2006’s The Queen. Because of the extended timeframe it’s going to cover, Foy won’t be the only person playing the Queen, but it seems safe to assume that a young Churchill won’t be showing up—as cute as it would be to see a little kid chomping on a cigar and wearing a homburg hat.