Women Of The Hour

Treading thorny political and moral ground as the leads of critically lauded shows, THANDIE NEWTON, ELISABETH MOSS, and SANDRA OH are defining a new kind of TV heroine.

THANDIE NEWTON has to pick up her three kids from school in an hour, so she’s just going to cut to the chase. That’s why, within the first eight minutes of our conversation, she’s touched on Time’s Up, gender wage parity, the misconception that women can’t carry a show, and how sexual violence is “the rot at the core” of all inequality. “It just goes to show you that when it comes to trying to protect women and change the system, one in which patriarchy is the standard, there are many different issues we have to concern ourselves with,” she explains. Nice to meet you too, Ms. Newton!

That the focus of our interview is on capital-I Issues makes perfect sense if you’re at all familiar with her life. The 46-year-old Londoner has been acting for three decades, and she’s been outspoken about the perils of being a woman in Hollywood—and, frankly, in the world in general—since long before #MeToo. But now that her star is the highest it’s ever been, thanks to her role as artificially intelligent brothel madam turned revolutionary Maeve on HBO’s smash Westworld (for which she’s won an Emmy), she’s determined to dedicate her platform to the cause.

And Westworld is an incredibly apropos show to be on if your cause is women’s rights, a fact not lost on Newton. “It couldn’t have happened at a more relevant time, let’s face it,” she says. “Particularly Maeve, because she educates herself in order to revolt and beat them at their own game.” Then she adds, “Which was very satisfying.”