You NEED To See The First Photo Of Helena Bonham Carter As Princess Margaret In 'The Crown'

Season 3 of The Crown might not premiere until 2019, but your first look at the new Princess Margaret and Anthony Armstrong-Jones is here. On Wednesday, Netflix released the first photo of The Crown Season 3's Helena Bonham Carter as Princess Margaret via Twitter, and next year can't get here fast enough.

In the photo, the Ocean's Eight star who is replacing Vanessa Kirby on the hit series, can be seen eyeing her cigarette holder with with her hair done up in beneath a blue floral headpiece, looking perfectly regal. The streaming service also shared the first picture of Ben Daniels as Margaret's photographer and filmmaker husband, Antony Armstrong-Jones, First Earl of Snowdon. In the picture, Daniels, who will be taking over for Matthew Goode, adjusts his camera lens in a classic black suit.

The third season of the royal drama will jump ahead in time, hence the casting changes. According to Deadline, The Crown Season 3 will chronicle the 1960s, depicting everything from the rise of legendary British rockers The Beatles to England's 1966 World Cup win for soccer. New characters like Camilla Parker Bowles, who eventually went on to marry Prince Charles after his split from Princess Diana and became Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, will also be introduced.

On Twitter, Netflix shared Bonham Carter's still with one simple word: "Hope." Meanwhile the photo of Daniels was simply captioned "Hurt," a possible nod to the pair's famously tumultuous relationship, which ended in divorce in 1978, and began to play out in the show's first two seasons.

The photos follow the first look at Olivia Colman as Queen Elizabeth II, which Netflix revealed on Monday. Colman, of course, is stepping into the role following Claire Foy's departure. The photo showed the Broadchurch star dressed in a pink suit and seated at a table by the window, a cup of tea in hand.

Anticipation for Season 3 is especially high given the new cast. It was always the plan to recast the series after two years, as series creator Peter Morgan explained in an interview with Variety in 2016. As the show went on, he explained, he would rather bring in older actors in lieu of aging the original stars artificially via prosthetics in the makeup trailer.

He told Variety:

"They would look ridiculous. It would be wrong. What’s so beautiful about Claire [Foy] is her youth. You can’t ask someone to act middle-aged. Someone has to bring their own fatigue to it. The feelings we all have as 50 year olds are different than the feelings we all have as 30-year-olds. That informs everything we do."

As sad as it is to see the original cast go, the new cast is so exciting, even the original actors can't wait to see it. Kirby told The Hollywood Reporter in June that she was thrilled Bonham Carter would succeed her and that she and Bonham Carter had been talking regularly about the role.

"I couldn't think of anyone better," Kirby said. "We text each other all the time, and she sends me photos and wants my scripts and notes and playlists. I think she's going to take Margaret up a level. She sent me a photo of her and [new queen] Olivia [Colman] making silly faces like, 'We've got the baton, but I think we've dropped it.'"

Bonham Carter previously expressed her nervousness at taking over for Kirby, who earned one the show's 13 Emmy nods for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series, when her casting was announced in April. In a statement published via the show's official Twitter account, she said,

"I'm not sure which I’m more terrified about: Doing justice to the real Princess Margaret or following in the shoes of Vanessa Kirby’s Princess Margaret. The only thing I can guarantee is that I’ll be shorter than Vanessa."

Fans will have to wait until 2019 to see Bonham Carter, Daniels, and Colman in action, but hopefully there will be plenty more sneak peeks before then.