By November 2014, Claire Foy had entered negotiations to portray Queen Elizabeth II in the series. By May 2015, Vanessa Kirby was in negotiations to portray Princess Margaret. In June 2015, John Lithgow was cast as Winston Churchill, and Matt Smith was cast as Prince Philip; Foy was confirmed as Queen Elizabeth II. Also starring in the first season were Victoria Hamilton, Jared Harris, and Eileen Atkins. The Left Bank producers noted that Smith was paid more than Foy in the first two seasons, partially because of his "Doctor Who" fame. This information brought up discussion on the gender pay gap, including the creation of a petition asking Smith to donate the difference between his and Foy's salary to the Time's Up Legal Defense Fund. Left Bank later issued an apology to Foy and Smith for putting them "at the center of a media storm... through no fault of their own." Left Bank also clarified that they "are responsible for budgets and salaries; the actors are not aware of who gets what, and cannot be held personally responsible for the pay of their colleagues." They added that they support "the drive for gender equality in film and TV and [were] eager to talk to the British Time’s Up campaign and [were] already speaking to Era 50:50, a group campaigning for gender equality on screen and stage." Suzanne Mackie, Left Bank's creative director, did note that moving forward, no other actor would be paid more than the actress portraying the Queen. Regarding the controversy, Foy was "not [surprised about the interest in the story] in the sense that it was a female-led drama. I'm not surprised that people saw [the story] and went, 'Oh, that's a bit odd.' But I know that Matt feels the same that I do, that it's odd to find yourself at the center [of a story] that you didn't particularly ask for." Smith noted that he supported Foy and was "pleased that it was resolved and [the producers] made amends for it because that's what needed to happen." "The Hollywood Reporter" noted it was unclear what Smith was referring to as resolved, since Netflix and Left Bank had not commented on the matter further. Foy later described reports that she had received backpay to bring her salary up to parity as "not quite correct". The producers recast the continuing roles with older actors every two seasons, as the timeline moves forward and the characters age. In October 2017, Olivia Colman was cast as Queen Elizabeth II for the third and fourth seasons.