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Nostalgic
Intense
Adventurous
Choked Up
Curious
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Weird
Of all the great things about television, the greatest is that it’s on every single day. TV history is being made, day in and day out, in ways big and small. In an effort to better appreciate this history, we’re taking a look back, every day, at one particular TV milestone.
IMPORTANT DATE IN TV HISTORY: August 9, 1968
WHY IT’S IMPORTANT: Television stardom in geek-friendly properties can be quite the double-edged sword. Those roles become cult favorites, their shows survive when they might have otherwise died, and they become wildly celebrated. Think William Shatner in Star Trek as the prime directive example of this. But there’s the downside to it, too, in that the geek-friendly fame sticks to you, making it incredibly hard to break out of that genre bubble. Think … well, William Shatner in Star Trek. Or Lucy Lawless in Xena, or Sarah Michelle Gellar in Buffy. Even a Shakespearian-trained actor like Patrick Stewart can only escape that bubble so much. After playing Jean-Luc Picard in Star Trek: The Next Generation, Stewart’s next-biggest role was playing Professor Xavier in X-Men, after all.
So how did Gillian Anderson manage to pull off such a varied, interesting career after leaving Dana Scully and The X-Files behind in 2002? It took a lot of hard work and some incredibly smart role-choosing. Starting way back in 2000, with her critically acclaimed lead performance in the Henry James adaptation The House of Mirth. A costume drama couldn’t have been farther outside of Anderson’s X-Files-fashioned wheelhouse, but it was a performance that immediately announced that she wouldn’t be boxed in.
This would end up paying off in her television career, even if it took until this current decade for TV to catch back up with her. The one-two punch of her performances in The Fall — as a British inspector investigating a brutal series of killings — and Hannibal — as Dr. Hannibal Lecter’s spellbound psychologist — were an instant reminder of what Anderson could do with a good role.
And it’s not like she had to renounce her geek-friendly past either. She’s returned to The X-Files for its resurrected run, after all. But the most interesting of these projects has been her role as the god Media in the Starz adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s novel American Gods. The role has allowed Anderson to appear in the guise of several media icons, from Lucille Ball to David Bowie to Marilyn Monroe. She also gets to re-team with her Hannibal showrunner Bryan Fuller, who has known as well as anyone how much Anderson brings to a show from a supporting role. Media’s semi-frequent appearances were some of the biggest highlights of American Gods‘ first season.
Lucky for all of us we have more to look forward to in season two. So happy birthday, Gillian Anderson. And keep working as hard as you are at being the most thrilling actress on TV.
