Ryan Murphy Says He Would Never Cast Someone Who Has Already Played Princess Diana 

Ryan Murphy won’t spill the beans on who he’s considering for the role of the late Princess Diana in the second season of Feud, through process of elimination, we might be able to figure it out. We now know that the Feud creator would “never” cast Naomi Watts in the role. When asked on Tuesday if he would ever consider casting someone who’d already played the princess — Watts played the title role in the 2013 film Diana — Murphy told PEOPLE, “Never. No, no.”

And while we’re at it, English actress Emily Mortimer is definitely not in the running either. She played the princess in a 2002 TV movie called Jeffrey Archer: The Truth.

What we do know is that there are a lot of women clamoring for the part. “It’s become like the Scarlett O’Hara of parts,” Murphy said at the Feud finale event in N.Y.C. Tuesday.

“Because there are so many women who want to play that part, and there are so many women who are physically right for it.”

creator is just meeting with candidates, “sort of figuring out who’s the People’s Princess.” Which apparently is very daunting, according to Murphy. “She’s just so famous and iconic,” he said. “And the version of the story we’re doing is very sympathetic to her and yet it’s very bold.”

Never one to play it safe, Murphy made it clear that he wouldn’t tread lightly even for royalty. “I think when people tackle the royal family, a lot of times they tread on eggshells and she didn’t,” he said. Murphy told PEOPLE he would be taking Diana’s lead in that sense, “of how she lived her life.”

Casting Prince Charles might be a little easier, as it’s “not quite the Scarlett O’Hara part,” said Murphy.

If the casting of the second season is as iconic as Susan Sarandon and Jessica Lange as Bette Davis and Joan Crawford, respectively, waiting to find out will be worth it.

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