Update, September 7, 2019: Netflix has officially confirmed Gillian Anderson's casting in season 4 of The Crown as Margaret Thatcher.
“I am so excited to be joining the cast and crew of The Crown and to have the opportunity to portray such a complicated and controversial woman,” Anderson said in a tweet. “Thatcher was undoubtedly formidable but I am relishing exploring beneath the surface and, dare I say, falling in love with the icon who, whether loved or despised, defined an era.”
Gillian Anderson will play Margaret Thatcher in The Crown Season Four, now in production. pic.twitter.com/OVCO8o2bVk
— The Crown (@TheCrownNetflix) September 7, 2019
This story was originally published on January 7, 2019.
The Iron Lady is coming to The Crown.
Gillian Anderson has been tapped to play Margaret Thatcher in the acclaimed Netflix series, Deadline reports. Anderson is following in the footsteps of some titanic performers: Meryl Streep, Patricia Hodge, and Jennifer Saunders have all previously depicted the conservative prime minister on film.
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However, Anderson won’t be making an appearance on the show until its fourth season, where she will be going toe-to-toe with Olivia Colman’s Queen Elizabeth as Britain’s first woman prime minister. Colman is set to take the mantle from Claire Foy and make her first appearance as the queen in The Crown’s upcoming third season this year; she will be joined by Tobias Menzies, who will be replacing Matt Smith as Prince Philip, Ben Daniels as Antony Armstrong-Jones, and Helena Bonham Carter as Princess Margaret.
The third season of The Crown will begin in 1963 and cover the following decade, depicting major cultural touchstones such as the rise of the Beatles and Britain’s 1966 World Cup win. The fourth season will pick up in the 1970s and follow Anderson as she portrays Thatcher’s rise to prominence. Thatcher served as Britain’s prime minister from 1979 to 1990.
Anderson is perhaps most well-known for her starring role in the hit sci-fi TV series The X-Files as FBI Special Agent Dana Scully. She has recently starred in Netflix’s popular new teen series Sex Education as sex therapist and single mom Jean Millburn, and is starring in a 14-week run of All About Eve on London’s West End next month, per Playbill.
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