The Crown has offered fans their first look at Imelda Staunton as the Queen in the upcoming fifth series. 

The actor is taking over the royal role from Olivia Colman in the hit Netflix drama, which is set to return in 2022. 

The Crown’s official Twitter account shared the image on Friday afternoon, writing: “An early glimpse of our new Queen Elizabeth II, Imelda Staunton.”

Imelda is leading a brand new cast for in the new series, which sees the action jump ahead in time. 

Speaking about taking over the role in an interview in a Woman’s Hour earlier this year, Imelda explained: “I think my sort of extra challenge, as if I needed it, is that I’m now doing the Queen that we’re a little more familiar with.

“With Claire Foy, [her version of Queen Elizabeth II] was almost history and now I’m playing one that people could say ‘she doesn’t do that,’ ‘she’s not like that’. And that’s my personal bête noire for me to deal with.”

In the fifth series of The Crown, Imelda will be joined by Sir Jonathan Pryce as Prince Philip, taking over from Tobias Menzies, while Elizabeth Debicki will succeed Emma Corrin as Princess Diana.

Jonny Lee Miller is also set to portray former prime minister John Major.

It’s been heavily rumoured that Dominic West will take over playing Prince Charles from Josh O’Connor, who recently won a Golden Globe for the role, while Lesley Manville will be portraying Princess Margaret.

Meanwhile, reports previously suggested that Fleabag star Andrew Scott was being eyed for the role of Tony Blair.

The Crown series one to four are streaming on Netflix now.