Jonny Lee Miller joins The Crown to play Prime Minister John Major in season five of Netflix hit
BRIT Pack badboy Jonny Lee Miller will play Prime Minister Sir John Major in the next series of hit Netflix hit drama, The Crown.
The Trainspotting actor, once married to Hollywood A-lister Angelina Jolie, was famous for being one of a band of cool young stars who took the world by storm in the Nineties.
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Sir John spent most of the decade in Number Ten where he gained a reputation as one of the most straight-laced PM’s in British history.
A TV insider said: “It may seem like an unlikely casting as the two men couldn’t be more different, but the creators of The Crown aren’t interested in an actor playing a version of themselves.
“It was a similar idea to when Sex Education star Gillian Anderson was cast as Margaret Thatcher in the last series of The Crown, a decision which surprised fans of the show at the time.
“But at 48, Jonny is actually the perfect age to play Sir John, who became PM at the age of 47 after Maggie was removed from power.”
Jonny shot to fame as Sickboy in 1996 cult movie Trainspotting, which also helped launch the career of his friend and co-star Ewan McGregor, 50, as lead character Mark Renton.
He married Angelina Jolie in the same year, but they separated 18 months later and divorced in 1999. She then married actor Billy Bob Thornton months later.
Jonny was part of the hard-partying Brit Pack based around Primrose Hill and was best mates with the likes of Sadie Frost and her then-husband Jude Law.
He also dated actor Anna Friel, All Saints singer Natalie Appleton and supermodel Kate Moss.
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Series five of The Crown, which will start filming this summer, starts in 1990, the year when Sir John became PM, and will run up to him losing the 1997 General Election.
The show already has several sexy stars on its cast including Elizabeth Debicki, 30, and Dominic West, 51, as the Prince and Princess of Wales.
There has been great speculation over who would play the two Prime Ministers which the next two series feature, with Sherlock actor Andrew Scott in the frame to play Tony Blair, but only if his schedule would allow it.
In recent years the profile of Jonny, whose grandfather Bernard Lee play M in the first 12 Bond movies, has soared further in the states thanks to playing a modern day Sherlock Holmes in CBS drama, Elementary from 2012 to 2019.
The Crown seasons 1-4 are available on Netflix now.
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