‘The Crown’ Revealed the First Pics of Gillian Anderson as Margaret Thatcher
Gillian Anderson #GillianAnderson
The Crown has just announced its Season 4 premiere date, plus some brand-new pics of the cast’s returning heavyweights: Emma Corrin as Princess Diana, Josh O’Connor as Prince Charles, Helena Bonham-Carter as Princess Margaret (but the queen of our hearts), Olivia Colman as QEII, and Tobias Menzies as Prince Philip. But its the first reveal of Gillian Anderson, the other queen of our hearts, as Margaret Thatcher that really has our attention.
If it wasn’t already abundantly clear from Princess Diana’s feathered hair/lavender scarf ensemble, Season 4 opens in the late 1970s, following closely on the heels of Season 3’s wrap-up in 1977. (Margaret Thatcher served as Prime Minister of the U.K. from 1979 to 1990, as another hint.)
Thatcher and Queen Elizabeth’s complicated relationship will be a focal point of the new season, Variety reports, as will the impact of Thatcher’s hyper-conservative policies on British culture and the “brief but bitter” Falklands War in 1982.
On a more personal (but no less dramatic) scale, the series will track the early years of Prince Charles’ and Princess Diana’s marriage, as you’ll no doubt recall from that haunting image of Lady Di in her epically huge wedding dress from the Season 4 teaser trailer.
Season 4 will be the final season in which the show’s current cast appears before a new, appropriately aged cast closes out the show’s final two seasons. Thus far, Netflix has announced that Imelda Staunton will take on the role of Queen Elizabeth, Jonathan Pryce will play Prince Philip, Lesley Manville will portray Princess Margaret, and Australian actor Elizabeth Debicki will be taking on Princess Diana.
First a new season of The Great British Baking Show and now this? Cozy British television, you are positively spoiling us.