NEW YORK, Dec. 4 (UPI) — The X-Files and The Crown icon Gillian Anderson says Constance, the character she plays in the gritty new western, The Abandons, is shocked to find another fierce woman standing in the way of her business expansion plans.
Premiering Thursday on Netflix, the drama was created by Sons of Anarchy writer-producer Kurt Sutter and takes place in 19th century Washington state.
It pits Anderson’s wealthy Constance against Lena Headey’s Fiona, who won’t give up the land where she houses orphans just because Constance wants the silver beneath it.
“I have a righteous pursuit and there is one thing that is in the way of that pursuit and I’m also not used to not getting what it is that I want,” Anderson, 57, told UPI in a Zoom interview Wednesday.
“One way or another, I’m used to an easier course than what happens in the story,” she said. “But I’m used to being able to buy or convince or manipulate my way and the fact that I can’t seem to do that with this woman is absolutely infuriating to me.”
Game of Thrones alum Headey said Fiona and Constance aren’t that different at the end of the day.
“They want both to survive and thrive and I think it just happens to be Constance is already in a much higher position, being privileged and moneyed compared to Fiona’s kind of scrappy existence,” she explained.
“Obviously, Fiona holds the one thing that would stop Constance advancing in the way that she wants and there’s also a little envy on Fiona’s part for everything she has,” she added. “I think Fiona would like an easier life, although she would never admit that’s something she would like.”
Further adding to the tension is that Constance is the biological mother of three adult children, while Fiona wanted kids of her own and was never able to have them.
“Fiona was desperate to be a mother. She loves her [adopted] kids desperately and ferociously. I think she is insecure as a mother, because they’re not hers. So, there’s no kind of unspoken connection there. It’s all learned,” Headey said.
“Constance knows that that is a very weak spot for Fiona, so she very kindly points that out occasionally.”
Anderson said she doesn’t think motherhood comes naturally to Constance.
“Her big love has always been her late husband and they had a dream together and she is determined to follow that through to the end,” Anderson said.
“She loves her children. When one of them goes missing, I think, obviously, she is in mourning because of that,” she added. “But an equal struggle and fight for her is getting what it is that she wants in fulfilling this dream that she and her late husband had. So, sometimes I feel like it’s hard to tell which is more important to her or which is driving her.”
Headey, who is British, studied with a dialect coach to perfect her Irish brogue, and her hair, makeup and costume teams were essential in helping her get into the mind and body of a woman who worked all day to provide for her family.
“Fiona is kind of of the Earth. She’s sort of in the dirt. There’s no awareness of looking a certain way or being in some way and there’s a sort of freedom to Fiona with that,” Headey said. “She’s kind of ready to defend at any point.”
Even though Constance is wealthy, she is not weak, Anderson pointed out.
“She’s not a dainty or protected woman,” she said.
“She is willing to to get her hands dirty. She is, sturdy is the right word, I think. She absolutely is of the Earth. She doesn’t feel like she’s of the air and, so, I guess I was planting myself in that. In terms of voice, that stems from it as well, maybe in how she talks, in the particular American that she speaks.”
Diehard Sons of Anarchy fans will likely recognize at least one very important name and several familiar faces when they watch The Abandons.
Although neither of its leading ladies had watched the other show going into the project, Headey said she did check out snippets of the violent drama about an outlaw biker gang operating in contemporary California once she knew she would be working with Sutter.
“This kind of theme of family and loyalty and war and holding fast runs through both,” Headey said.
