Gillian Anderson kills with TV takeover
If there is ever such a thing as too much Gillian Anderson, this might be the year for it.
"People are going to get so sick of me," says Anderson, 46, who has lined up four series. Now appearing opposite Mads Mikkelsen in the third season of NBC's macabre Hannibal (Thursdays, 10 p.m. ET/PT), the Emmy-winning actress will also star next year in Fox's update of sci-fi smash The X-Files, Season 3 of BBC's The Fall, also due on Netflix, and BBC's War and Peace miniseries, airing on Lifetime, History and A&E.
"It's a great time. I'm very fortunate to have the range of stuff available to me right now," she adds. "It's nice to be able to work out how to fit as much of it in as possible, and still have a life and be an active mother" to three children.
It's safe to say the younger ones won't be watching mommy's current TV outing anytime soon. On Hannibal, Anderson plays the icy Dr. Bedelia Du Maurier, a former psychiatrist to Hannibal Lecter (Mikkelsen), who jetted off to Europe with the on-the-lam serial killer in the final moments of Season 2.
When the high-concept (but low-rated) thriller returned last week, the enigmatic duo was posing as a married couple with new identities. And just as Hannibal added yet another victim to his cannibalistic menu right before Bedelia's eyes, a series of flashbacks revealed she also may be capable of murder.
"She's on a very complex and disturbing journey," Anderson says. Now that Bedelia is complicit in his thirst for blood, "there is a fear for her and for us that Hannibal could potentially turn on her, and that she is as much a victim as anybody else. You can see she's in over her head, but there's also this certain amount of delight and enjoyment she's getting in being so close to something that is so dangerous and titillating for her."
As an X-Files fan, Hannibal creator Bryan Fuller sought out Anderson because of her "amazing pedigree in genre television," and felt fortunate to nab her for a supporting role for the drama's first two seasons. He offered her a role as a series regular for this season, expanding Bedelia's story line.
"She was so game, and I've absolutely adored working with her," Fuller says. "One of the things I like about Bedelia and Gillian's portrayal is that you believe she is every bit as smart as Hannibal Lecter, and you need a very intelligent actor to be able to pull that relationship off."
Of course, Anderson knows a thing or two about complex partnerships, having played the skeptical FBI agent Dana Scully to David Duchovny's more credulous Fox Mulder for nine seasons on The X-Files. The supernatural crime show, which ended in 2002 and inspired two film sequels, will be revived as a six-episode "event series" next year — an idea that initially didn't excite Anderson.
"I do enough television as it is, and it wasn't of interest to me," she says. "But the more that David and (creator Chris Carter) talked to me about how much fun it would be, (that) there hadn't been closure before, and it was unlikely there would ever be another feature, they won me over."
It's the latest example of remake fever sweeping across the small screen, as Full House, Coach and The Muppet Show lead the recent charge of TV shows making surprising comebacks. But to Anderson, the logic behind X-Files' return is no mystery.
"It was such a huge thing in people's lives way back when," she says. "It was the beginning of appointment television, and people dedicated every single Friday night or every single Sunday night to watching it, and they became very fond of the characters. I understand the excitement around it in this case."