Gillian Anderson Will Play Margaret Thatcher on The Crown

Good news, bad news, Crown fans. The good news is that, after months of rumors, it’s finally been confirmed that Gillian Anderson will play Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher on Netflix’s opulent series about the life of Queen Elizabeth II. The bad news is that she won’t show up until season four, and season three hasn’t even started airing yet.

Anderson, for the uninitiated, first skyrocketed to fame as the no-nonsense Agent Dana Scully on The X-Files, and has since balanced theater work with serious dramas and other prestige television shows like The Fall, Hannibal, and Netflix’s latest original series, Sex Education. She is, and we don’t say this lightly, ridiculously cool. Though she was born in Chicago, she was raised in both the United States and London, England, so the accent will come easily. As it happens, she’s also been dating Peter Morgan, creator of The Crown, since 2016. Lucky him!

Now, those of you with a basic understanding of British history and linear time are probably putting it together that Thatcher came to power in 1979. The most recent season of The Crown concluded with the Profumo scandal and the death of Stephen Ward, in 1963. That leaves a 16-year period that the third season could potentially cover. So, no, no Diana or Fergie just yet. Per Deadline, the third season “begins in 1963 and will cover events such as the rise of the Beatles and England winning the soccer World Cup in 1966. Characters such as Camilla Parker Bowles…will also start to emerge in the next season.”

We’re not completely sure what the Beatles or the World Cup have to do with the affairs of state or the royal family? At least we’ll have Olivia Colman as Queen Liz and Helena Bonham-Carter as Princess Margaret to keep us entertained as we wait for Anderson to arrive.

Related: Gillian Anderson Lets It All Hang Out Onstage in “A Streetcar Named Desire”