The third season of Netflix’s “The Crown” dropped less than 10 days ago and already fans are looking ahead to Season 4, when even more iconic historical figures will be introduced into the British royal family drama. One such non-fictional character is Margaret Thatcher, who will be portrayed by “Sex Education” star Gillian Anderson. Oh, and Margaret Thatcher’s hair, which is a character unto itself, really.
As photos of Anderson on set have already emerged, wig and all, TheWrap asked the “X-Files” alum about what it was like to done that ‘do for the role. And apparently, there’s “actually a few wigs.”
“One can’t really properly be Margaret Thatcher without having that hair,” Anderson told TheWrap in an interview, which you can view in the video above. “And it’s very much… her hair did change over time and it was quite different at different times, even though it was also kind of strangely the same. And so part of what the hair team tried to do was to find the common theme that just said ‘Margaret Thatcher’ without having to adjust it on a daily basis or episode basis or whatever. So it definitely makes a difference as to how I look. And yes, of course [it’s] a very big part of feeling more like her.”
Aside from the hair, which is clearly a big part of playing Thatcher, who served as the UK’s Prime Minister from 1975 until stepping down in 1990, Anderson can’t talk much about what her storyline will entail — or how she feels about playing such a divisive figure in British political history.
“Oh, it’s tricky,” she told us. “I’m actually not in a position to start talking about her from my perspective yet. I can talk to you about the fact that I am playing her, that is a truism. And that it is a great privilege to play such a complex and intensely both loved and reviled character. That is challenging. And that’s probably about what I can tell you at the minute.”
Watch the full interview above, in which Anderson tells us about playing Thatcher opposite Olivia Colman’s Queen Elizabeth II. Readers can find the first part of TheWrap’s interview with Anderson, in which she discusses “Sex Education” Season 2, here.