Gillian Anderson has joined the fourth season of “The Crown” as former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher, Netflix announced Saturday.

“I am so excited to be joining the cast and crew of ‘The Crown’ and to have the opportunity to portray such a complicated and controversial woman,” Anderson said in a statement. “Thatcher was undoubtedly formidable, but I am relishing exploring beneath the surface and, dare I say, falling in love with the icon who, whether loved or despised, defined an era.”

News of the casting first began circling following a January report in the Sunday Times, although Netflix declined to comment at the time. The fourth season is currently in production.

Season 3 of “The Crown” is set to premiere on Netflix on Nov. 17 and will also showcase Oscar-winner Olivia Colman as Queen Elizabeth II, after she took over the role from Claire Foy. Foy played the English matriarch in the first two seasons of the series. Other cast members include Tobias Menzies, who plays Prince Phillip, and Oscar nominee Helena Bonham Carter, who portrays Princess Margaret.

The third season will also take place nearly two years after the second premiered with an even larger gap within the series itself, spanning the ’60s and ’70s, up until Margaret Thatcher’s election as prime minister in 1979.