The Crown: Gillian Anderson as Margaret Thatcher and why we can’t stop talking about it

The new season of The Crownaired this weekend and already Gillian Anderson’s performance has been stealing the headlines.

The American actress completely morphed into famous Conservative leader Margaret Thatcher from her wardrobe all the way down to her distinctive voice. It was almost as if Thatcher had been frozen in time.

Gillian’s spitting image portrayal of the UK’s first female Prime Minister didn’t come without effort. The actress spent tens of hours pouring over TV and audio recordings of Thatcher in order to nail the performance. The actor also stated that she tried not to bring any ‘massive preconceptions’ to the role as this made it easier to form the character. Gillian stated:

Normally, when working on either a historical character or literary character, I find that it’s good to start from a blank slate anyway. It was helpful to have less to wipe away.

And, it’s safe to say that she did an excellent job as even her equally famous co-stars were given the chills. Award-winning actress Olivia Coleman who portrays Queen Elizabeth II on the hit drama said that Anderson’s resemblance to Thatcher was ‘quite scary’:

Sitting opposite her, especially with the light behind her a bit, it was...like she was there.

Even Helena Bonham Carter, who plays the Queen’s sister Princess Margaret and famous for her macabre characters, agreed that ‘it was like having a ghost around’.

All over social media people have demanded that Anderson be recognised for her incredible work, tagging both The Emmys and The Golden Globes in their posts. One person stated:

There's really no need to hold any type of ceremony. Just send Gillian Anderson her awards now @TheEmmys @goldenglobes.

Another viewer jumped in on the conversation:

I'm 22 minutes into the new season of #TheCrown and all I can say is, give Gillian Anderson every award now!! @GillianA @TheCrownNetflix.

The Crown Season 4

In case you have yet to binge the new season of the UK’s best royal drama. This season picks up in the 1970s and covers the beginning of the troubled relationship between Princess Diana and Prince Charles.

Coupled with the controversy that surrounded Diana, the show also shows Britain’s unrest under their first female Prime Minister Margret Thatcher, which Netflixdescribes, ‘only grows worse as [she] leads the country into the Falklands War, generating conflict within the Commonwealth.’

Season 4 is the last season for the current royals as Olvia Coleman, Tobias Menzies and Helena Bonham Carter are set to be replaced by a new cast to better represent the character’s advancing ages.

The next season of the show is set to include faces such as Imelda Staunton as Queen Elizabeth, Lesley Manville as Princess Margret and Elizabeth Debicki portraying Diana.