Don’t start with me on this or IMDB (not IMDs which appears to be an automobile data system): Matt Smith is an unappealing actor who seems to act through his eyebrows.
Claire Foy, on the other hand, is a rising star who made a great hit playing Anne Boleyn in the brilliant series Wolf Hall. She managed to turn that unappealing young woman into a great woman who died like a Prince. For that reason alone, I tuned into The Crown.
In theater and film, actors do not get paid according to either their long term or short term careers. They are not civil servants or accountants. They are paid by how they attract the audience. No one tunes in to anything that stars Matt Smith. Claire Foy is going to be a star.