GILLIAN ANDERSON has reportedly signed on to play former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in the fourth season of acclaimed Netflix drama series “The Crown.” Filming is due to begin over the summer, reported Britain’s The Sunday Times.

Anderson, best known as FBI agent Dana Scully from “The X-Files,” is the latest star to join the show in the role of an iconic real-life political figure, following John Lithgow’s turn as Winston Churchill.

The third season of “The Crown” is expected to track Queen Elizabeth II and the rest of her family in the late 1960s and 1970s. The casting of Anderson as Thatcher indicates that season four will stretch into the 1980s.

No premiere date has been announced for season three.

“The Crown” is one of Netflix’s most expensive and most accomplished dramas, featuring the relationship between the royal family and U.K. politicians.

(SD-Agencies)