Gillian Anderson, Who Played Margaret Thatcher on ‘The Crown,’ Says the Show Ended at Just the Right Time

(Image credit: Getty Images)

published 29 March 2024

Once again, Gillian Anderson is playing a royally adjacent role in a project, this time starring as BBC journalist Emily Maitlis in Netflix’s film Scoop, out April 5. The movie chronicles the disastrous 2019 Newsnight interview between Maitlis and Prince Andrew, which effectively ended his royal career, as the Duke of York announced he would step back from royal duties just days after the BBC broadcast the interview. (The most damaging parts of the interview centered around Andrew’s relationship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.)

Anderson also starred as U.K. Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher on season four of Netflix’s series The Crown, a performance that earned the actress an Emmy for her work. As she prepares to premiere another royal-centered project, Anderson reflected to Entertainment Tonight about the royal madness as of late and why she feels The Crown ended at the right time.

“I think it probably ended at the right spot,” Anderson said. “It was getting too close to present day. It’s much easier when it was further in the past, and I think people didn’t have necessarily a direct relationship with the people on the screen.”

The Crown ended its run last December after six seasons, stopping its timeline in 2005. With the introduction of Kate Middleton at the end of season six—as well as delving deeper into the stories of Prince William and Prince Harry—Anderson said that the storyline was catching up to present-day royals, and even if there was truth to how they were being portrayed in the series, “the more outraged seemed to spring up,” she said.

Gillian Anderson and "The Crown" co-stars — Anderson alongside other cast members of "The Crown" last December.

She added “It’s a moment where we understand they have asked for a bit of peace and quiet around what they’re experiencing and it feels like that’s the least we can do,” Anderson said. “It’s a complicated relationship that the royal family has with the press…I think in this instance with this latest double-whammy of news [about King Charles and the Princess of Wales] the least that people can do is give them a bit of a break and let the headlines settle down for them, to process this as the human beings that they actually are.”

Imelda Staunton filming "The Crown" — Imelda Staunton, pictured here filming a scene from "The Crown," played the third and final Queen Elizabeth, following performances from Claire Foy and Olivia Colman.

Scoop, it’s worth noting, is less about Andrew and more about the women—Maitlis, editor Esme Wren (played by Romola Garai) and producer Sam McAlister (portrayed by Billie Piper)—who landed the coveted interview.

Rachel Burchfield is a writer, editor, and podcaster whose primary interests are fashion and beauty, society and culture, and, most especially, the British Royal Family and other royal families around the world. She serves as Marie Claire’s Senior Celebrity and Royals Editor and has also contributed to publications like Allure, Cosmopolitan, Elle, Glamour, Harper’s Bazaar, InStyle, People, Vanity Fair, Vogue, and W, among others. Before taking on her current role with Marie Claire, Rachel served as its Weekend Editor and later Royals Editor. She is the cohost of Podcast Royal, a show that was named a top five royal podcast by The New York Times. A voracious reader and lover of books, Rachel also hosts I’d Rather Be Reading, which spotlights the best current nonfiction books hitting the market and interviews the authors of them. Rachel frequently appears as a media commentator, and she or her work has appeared on outlets like NBC’s Today Show, ABC’s Good Morning America, CNN, and more.

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