A mainstay of the British theatre scene, Olivia Williams spent her early career turning in celebrated stage work at the Royal Shakespeare Company and the National before being snapped up by Hollywood, starring in Rushmore and The Sixth Sense, among other successful movies. Now, she features in the new sci-fi series The Nevers, a fantastical retelling of 19th-century London in which a group of women with superpowers – know as the ‘Touched’ – find themselves ostracised by society. Wiliams is also set to appear alongside Anthony Hopkins and Olivia Colman in the Oscar-winning drama The Father (out next month), a heartbreaking and illuminating first-person exploration of dementia. She talks to Bazaar about Victorian superheroes, her tomboyish childhood and the power of fiction.

Something smells a bit off in the world of The Nevers. Why is The Touched’s benefactor Lavinia Bidlow, played by Rushmore’s Olivia Williams, cavorting below ground with Denis O’Hare’s evil Dr. Edmund Hague? Is she actually a true supporter of The Touched as they are, or is she seeking to capture and harness their special powers? And what is Pip Torrens’ Lord Gilbert Massen up to in Parliament and behind closed doors? His assault on The Touched might seem more forthright, but something feels off there too.

Olivia Williams (Dollhouse, The Nevers), has been cast as Camilla Parker Bowles for season 5 and 6 of The Crown. She will take over the…

I still think much of his [Joss Whedon’s] film Much Ado About Nothing is definitive. It was filmed in his house. He used to hold play-readings on a Sunday with the Dollhouse cast. Anyone who was around would read a play in this little amphitheatre in his back-garden. It was my only chance to try out my drunken Gertrude.

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WGN America has confirmed that its first original scripted series, Manhattan, will not return for a third series. The period drama, which starred Olivia Williams,…