Gillian Anderson Reveals Why She Initially Turned Down 'Scoop' Role: 'Seemed Like a Really Bad Idea'

Gillian Anderson broke one of her own rules for her role in Scoop.

At an April 3 screening and Q&A in New York City for the new Netflix film about Prince Andrew's infamous 2019 BBC interview that led to him stepping back from public duties, Anderson admitted that she didn't initially agree to play BBC Newsnight anchor Emily Maitlis.

"I said no initially," the actress, 55, said. "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."

Anderson continued, "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.' "

Director Philip Martin and writer Peter Moffat changed her mind on a Zoom call.

Anderson said she "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.' "

Scoop will give viewers "the inside track on the women that broke through the Buckingham Palace establishment to secure the scoop of the decade that led to the catastrophic fall from grace of the queen's 'favorite son,'" according to the film's logline. That includes everything from "navigating palace vetoes, to breaking through to Prince Andrew's inner circle, the high-stakes negotiations and intensity of rehearsal — to the jaw-dropping interview itself."

Martin — a British television director and screenwriter who worked on The Crown, for which Anderson won a Golden Globe and an Emmy for playing Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher — told Netflix, "I want to put the audience inside the breathtaking sequence of events that led to the interview with Prince Andrew — to tell a story about a search for answers, in a world of speculation and varying recollections. It's a film about power, privilege and differing perspectives and how — whether in glittering palaces or high-tech newsrooms — we judge what's true."

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The Duke of York, now 64, famously announced he was stepping back from public duties soon after Prince Andrew & the Epstein Scandal: The Newsnight Interview aired in 2019. 

In the interview, Queen Elizabeth's second son spoke out for the first time about his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein and allegations that he had sex with Virginia Giuffre when she was 17. He insisted he had “no recollection of ever meeting" Giuffre. When Maitlis mentioned a photo showing Prince Andrew with his arm around Giuffre, he claimed, "I have absolutely no memory of that photograph ever being taken."

In January 2022, Queen Elizabeth stripped her second son of his military titles and patronages amid Giuffre's civil sexual assault lawsuit that's since been settled. Prince Andrew has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing.

Despite stepping back from royal duties, Prince Andrew has continued to join family events, most recently attending Easter church with King Charles and Queen Camilla on Sunday.