Casting Crisis! 'The Crown' Reportedly Struggling To Find An Actor To Play Scandal-Plagued Prince Andrew For Season 5
Yikes! Though Netflix's biographical drama The Crown has racked up a slew of accolades at award shows, producers are reportedly struggling to find an actor to play disgraced royal Prince Andrew in the fifth season of the series.
According to reports, the search has become so difficult that they've turned to the website Spotlight to advertise for the part.
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"Prince Andrew is one of the most unpopular members of the royal family and wannabe stars aren’t exactly queuing up to play him," an insider told The Sun. "It’s not the sexiest role and is unlikely to set a Hollywood career alight. However, it might work for a real scene-stealer character artist."
Andrew has been shunned by the public and stepped down from his royal duties after it was revealed that he had connections to late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
A woman even came forward claiming she was forced to sleep with Andrew when she was just 17, but Andrew has denied the accusations.
Season 4 of 'The Crown.'
Whoever takes on the role will be portraying Andrew in his mid 30s to early 40s, as the season is set to cover the years 1991 to 1997.
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According to the listing on Spotlight, filming will kick off in August and will conclude in January.
Last season, Tom Byrne portrayed a younger version of Andrew, but he decided not to pay attention to his current scandal.
"I thought the best thing I can do is to switch that part of my brain off," Byrne explained. "It just wasn’t useful to me to engage with that stuff — particularly as I was only playing him as a 20-year-old."
Meanwhile, a spokesperson for The Crown claimed the reports of a casting fiasco weren't true, stating, "There is absolutely no struggle to cast any role for season 5 of The Crown and it is normal practice for productions to advertise in Spotlight."
Season 5 will see several new faces, including Imelda Staunton as Queen Elizabeth II, Elizabeth Debicki as Princess Diana and Dominic West as Prince Charles.
