'The Crown' Season 3: 5 Things to Know About Olivia Colman, the New Queen Elizabeth

Netflix released the first look of Olivia Colman as Queen Elizabeth II in Season 3 of The Crown on Sunday. Colman replaced Emmy winner Claire Foy as the queen in Season 3 and Season 4, both of which will cover Elizabeth's reign in Britain from 1964 to 1976.

Colman said she was "thrilled to be a part of The Crown" in a statement released on the Netflix series' Twitter on Sunday. "I was utterly gripped watching it, a proper 'just one more' feeling. I think Claire Foy is an absolute genius. She's an incredibly hard act to follow, so I'm basically going to rewatch every episode and copy her," she said.

It's unlikely Colman, whose filmography expands more than 90 credits, will have a hard time succeeding Foy. When showrunner Peter Morgan announced Colman's casting in February, he said the English actress was his first choice to play Elizabeth in the '60s and '70s.

"I think we all felt Olivia had something that corresponded [to what we wanted], that ability to be both plain and dazzling and to be both knowable and unknowable," he told Variety at the time.

Read on for more about Colman below.

1. Colman's career extends beyond just the big and small screen. The actress worked in radio, too, including having a regular featured role in BBC Radio comedies including Concrete Cow, Think the Unthinkable, The House of Milton Jones and Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency. Throughout her career, Colman also performed voiceovers in BBC radio shows as well as on TV commercials.

2. The 44-year-old is an award winner. In addition to snagging London Film Critic's Circle award nominations—one of which she won in 2011 for her role alongside Meryl Streep in The Iron Lady—Colman also claimed BIFA Awards for her work in 2011's Tyrannosaur and 2015's The Lobster, as well as BAFTA awards for her role on TV shows Twenty Twelve and Accused.

3. Colman sits on the judging panel at the Norwich Film Festival, an annual international festival that spotlights short films in Colman's hometown. She also serves as the patron of U.K. charity Tender, a domestic violence and sexual abuse advocacy group.

4. The actress, whose full name is Sarah Caroline Olivia Colman, appeared on an episode of British genealogy show Who Do You Think You Are in July where she discovered she was actually Anglo-Indian after learning her great-great-great-grandmother Harriot was born in India.

5. Colman believes in love at first sight. The actress knew she was going to marry her husband, Ed Sinclair., from the moment she laid eyes on him. "When he walked into the room, I just went, 'That's him!'" she told The Telegraph during a 2013 interview. "Mind you, I suppose if he hadn't wanted me, then I might have gone, 'That's him!' at someone else a week later." Fortunately for Colman, her senses about Sinclair were accurate. The two wed in 2011 and have three children together.