Kristen Stewart Is Princess Diana! See 10 Other Actresses Who Have Played The Royal Onscreen

Kristen Stewart might have once been a name that was synonymous with vampires and werewolves, but those who know her best will argue that her filmography is so much more diverse than that!

The latest credit to be added? Kristen Stewart is playing Princess Diana, and she's transforming into the royal for new film Spencer.  

Directed by Chilean filmmaker Pablo Larraín, an emerging master of the biopic, Spencer zooms in on Princess Diana's last years as a young royal and queen-in-the-making. It will reportedly tackle the most difficult parts of her life (just three days of her life, in fact) and her problematic marriage with Prince Charles that culminated in her controversial death in Paris, so don't expect it to be an easy watch. Also, royalists are forewarned about the ways in which the royal family are portrayed to have contributed to the Princess' silent torment. 

But despite the tragedy surrounding Princess Diana's death, Spencer will ultimately tell the story of a woman seeking independence and empowerment as well as her bravery in challenging what she believed were archaic and stifling traditions. It will be a profile of a woman's strength, making Kristen Stewart playing Princess Diana a perfect choice. 

 

In case you didn't realize, the 30-year-old has played strong (or at the very least interesting) female leads in the past. She was Joan Jett (a.k.a. one of the 80s' rock and roll ladies that paved the way for other women in the genre) in The Runaways, a sexually liberated spy in the latest Charlie's Angels reboot, an emotionally complex lawyer in Certain Women, the onscreen reincarnation of American film icon Jean Seberg in Seberg, and even a Guantanamo Bay soldier in Camp X-Ray. You get the picture.

With Kristen Stewart playing Princess Diana next, there's so much to look forward to and the stakes are high. The actress is currently concentrating on two things to give the role justice: getting her accent right, and reading as much about her life as she can in order to fully grasp her authentic experiences as best as she can. 

Kristen Stewart will be starring alongside an all-star cast composed of Sally Hawkins, Timothy Spall, and Sean Harris. The film is in production and is set for a 2021 release, in time for Princess Diana's 25th death anniversary next year; she passed away in August 31, 1997. Read more about the other must-know details of Spencer here. 

Kristen Stewart  playing Princess Diana in Spencer is the latest title to be added to the roster of Princess Diana-focused media.

Other A-list actresses have brought the story of the Princess of Wales to the screen before, the most recent being the actresses cast in Netflix's hit series The Crown. Over the years, many other actresses have transformed into Princess Diana—see 10 of them below!

Elizabeth Debicki, The Crown

Emma Corrin, The Crown

Naomi Watts, Diana

Caroline Bliss, Charles & Diana: A Royal Love Story

Catherine Oxenberg, The Royal Romance of Charles and Diana and Charles and Diana: Unhappily Ever After 

Serena Scott Thomas, Diana: Her True Story

Genevieve O'Reilly, Diana: Last Days of a Princess 

Bonnie Soper, Harry & Meghan: A Royal Romance and Harry & Meghan: Becoming Royal

Jeanna de Waal, Diana the musical

Lesley Harcourt, William & Catherine: A Royal Romance

Photos from @twilight @neonrated