Gillian Anderson Explains Why She Rejected 'Scoop' Role at First

Gillian Anderson had trouble making up her mind about her role in Scoop.

The 55-year-old actress plays British journalist Emily Maitlis in the Netflix film about Prince Andrew‘s infamous 2019 BBC interview, in which he was questioned about his association with Jeffrey Epstein.

Gillian recently revealed that she first rejected the part.

Keep reading to find out more…

“I said no initially,” she said during a screening and Q&A on Wednesday (April 3) in New York City. “It felt Emily Maitlis is known very well in the U.K. She’s been on our screens and in our ears and podcasts for a long time, and she’s kind of known as a superwoman about town. There’s a comment or an off-the-cuff comment in the film about how she swims and she jogs and she interviews world leaders and all that. And all of that is very true, and she is quite a formidable presence, and I know lots of people who know her.”

The star also explained the difference between portraying a living person versus one that has passed away, such as her role as prime minister Margaret Thatcher in The Crown season 4.

“I played a few people who are no longer living already, and the prospect of not only playing somebody who was living but living in my neighborhood seemed like a really bad idea. So I said, ‘No, thank you,’” she recalled.

However, Gillian‘s mind changed when director Philip Martin and writer Peter Moffat offered their thoughs.

The actress “explained to them why I wasn’t going to do it. And they both looked at me and said, ‘That’s exactly why you have to do it.’ Actually, I kind of knew it as it was coming out of their mouths. I kind of thought, ‘Yeah, you’re right. Yeah.’”

Watch the trailer for Scoop here.

If you haven’t seen, Gillian Anderson weighed in on if The Crown should return amid the royal family’s recent health struggles.