Back in April 2019, when the then little-known Emma Corrin was announced as the new Princess Diana in The Crown, the casting felt like an intriguing gamble. I wrote about the actor for CLAUDIA at the time, when few could have imagined that the 23-year-old would become one of television’s biggest breakout stars only months later.

Season 4 of the Netflix drama changed everything. Corrin’s uncanny resemblance to Diana, combined with the emotional vulnerability of the performance and the enduring fascination surrounding the Princess of Wales, turned them into an overnight sensation. A Golden Globe, a Critics’ Choice Award, and an Emmy nomination soon followed. More importantly, a star had arrived.

Six years later, Corrin still speaks about Diana with remarkable affection. In a recent interview with Variety, they admitted that the role remains unlike any other.

“I loved her. I loved playing her,” they said, adding that portraying Diana felt different from anything that had come before or since. More than that, Corrin revealed that they never felt entirely alone during the experience. “I felt like I wasn’t doing it alone. I felt like I was doing it with her.”

Perhaps that explains why their dog is still named Spencer, a tribute to Diana’s family and a reminder that some roles never completely leave an actor behind.

Yet the extraordinary success of The Crown brought with it a challenge familiar to anyone who has embodied an icon: the danger of becoming inseparable from that character. Corrin has spoken openly about Hollywood’s tendency to pigeonhole actors, and instead of embracing a career built exclusively around period dramas, they deliberately chose a less predictable path.

That journey led to projects such as My Policeman, opposite Harry Styles, and Netflix’s adaptation of Lady Chatterley’s Lover. They also embraced more unconventional material, appearing in Robert Eggers’ Nosferatu and starring in the superb Black Mirror episode “Hotel Reverie,” one of the anthology’s strongest recent mysteries.

In between, Corrin made an unexpected leap into the Marvel universe. In Deadpool & Wolverine, they portrayed Cassandra Nova, the twisted twin sister of Professor X and the film’s main antagonist, opposite Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman. Although the blockbuster became one of the biggest hits of 2024, the role itself felt almost like a detour rather than a defining moment.

Speaking to Variety, Corrin described the experience as stepping into an amusement park. Accustomed to smaller productions and intimate dramas, they often felt as though they had wandered onto the set wearing a visitor’s pass. Fortunately, Reynolds, Jackman, and director Shawn Levy made the environment feel surprisingly intimate, transforming what could have been an intimidating experience into what Corrin affectionately described as a “playground.”

And despite Cassandra Nova’s apparent fate, they would gladly return. “Absolutely. One hundred percent.”

Still, none of the projects that followed have generated quite the same level of attention that accompanied their Princess Diana. Ironically, the role that may bring Corrin back to the center of the cultural conversation is another literary and period icon.

Later in 2026, Netflix will premiere its highly anticipated six-part adaptation of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, written by Dolly Alderton and directed by Heartstopper‘s Euros Lyn. Starring alongside Jack Lowden as Mr. Darcy and Olivia Colman as Mrs. Bennet, Corrin will take on Elizabeth Bennet, one of the most beloved heroines in English literature.

More than two decades after Joe Wright’s 2005 film starring Keira Knightley and Matthew Macfadyen became the definitive version for an entire generation, the new adaptation hopes to introduce Austen’s world to contemporary audiences while remaining faithful to the spirit of the novel.

And no one seems more aware of the expectations surrounding the project than Corrin themselves.

“I’m very daunted,” they admitted to Variety, acknowledging that comparisons are inevitable. “People naturally love comparing things — and I do too.”

Yet the actor also described the series as one of the happiest experiences of their career. One of the aspects that stood out most was the unusually high number of women working both in front of and behind the camera, something Corrin believes remains far too rare in the industry. “You really feel the difference in the energy. You realize how special it is, but also how much work still needs to be done.”

Now 30, Emma Corrin seems to be embracing a period of experimentation rather than chasing another phenomenon. Since The Crown, they have moved comfortably between romance, horror, science fiction, theater, and blockbuster filmmaking, always searching for something unexpected and refusing to settle into the comfortable lane Hollywood initially prepared for them.

And yet there is a delicious irony in that journey. Just when Corrin appeared determined to escape period dramas, another timeless heroine may be poised to bring them back to the center of popular culture.

After all, few fictional characters carry as much responsibility — and inspire as many inevitable comparisons — as Elizabeth Bennet.

And Emma Corrin knows that better than anyone.