Gillian Anderson Starring In ‘A Streetcar Named Desire’ Revival

Gillian Anderson will appear on the London stage in “A Streetcar Named Desire” in 2014.

The X-Files star will play Blanche Dubois, the fading and alcoholic southern belle, in the famous Tennessee Williams play which will open next summer at the Young Vic Theater under the direction of Benedict Andrews. The Williams play, which won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1948, takes place in the French Quarter of New Orleans.

According to Yahoo, “Gillian will be following in the footsteps of talented actresses, Vivien Leigh, Cate Blanchett and Rachel Weisz, who have all taken on the tragic role” of Dubois.

Anderson received good notices in the UK this year for role as detective Stella Gibson on the BBC five-episode psychological thriller The Fall which has been renewed for a second season.The show’s May premiere attracted 3.5 million viewers.

She appeared on the London stage in 2009 as Nora in Ibsen’s “A Doll’s House” and was nominated for the prestigious Olivier Award for her performance.

Anderson, 45, originally achieved acting fame for her role as Special Agent Dana Scully on The X-Files starring opposite David Duchovny (Fox Mulder).

The X-Files was a popular TV show that ran on Fox from 1993 to 2002, with Duchovny and Anderson playing FBI agents who took on cases of the unexplained. The cult classic series saw the agents taking on cases involving aliens and monsters, and its popularity spawned two movies after the series ended. At Comic-Con this summer, Anderson suggested that a third X-files movie could be a possibility.

Young Vic Artistic Director David Lan said of the new Gillian Anderson “Streetcar Named Desire” production, “This was Gillian and Benedict working together. They sought each other out, and went through what they’d like to do, and came up with Blanche. With these two people involved there are going to be fireworks on the stage.”