Anna Gunn's New Series Is Awesomely Feminist

Amazing news, guys: Anna Gunn – who is, of course, best known (and sadly loathed by many) for her role as Skyler White in the recently/dearly departed Breaking Bad — has a new role, and it already sounds like it's going to be a must-watch. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Anna Gunn has landed the lead in a Criminal Minds spin-off, and it already sounds awesomely feminist.

So, when can we expect this new show? The pilot of the series is set to shoot in February, and it will air during the upcoming Criminal Minds season on CBS. Gunn will play Ally Lambert, an intelligent law expert and linguist, alongside veteran Jack Garrett (Gary Sinise). The spinoff is in good hands; series creator Erica Messer will write the script.

This isn't the first post-Breaking Bad role for Gunn. She also starred in the Fox series Gracepoint, which was a remake of the British show Broadchurch starring former Doctor Who star David Tennant — though that series was cancelled after one season. She's also appeared on The Mindy Project (in a pretty epic role, might I add), and in an Off-Broadway play as of late.

Considering Criminal Minds is traditionally a male dominated show, it's pretty amazing to hear that its spin-off will be featuring a female lead from a feminist standpoint — especially now that we know that female lead will be portrayed by Gunn. After all, making waves against sexism isn't new territory for Gunn: Sadly, during her time on Breaking Bad, she was not-so-positively associated with her character Skyler, and for some pretty troubling (and deeply sexist) reasons. Though Gunn won two Emmys for her role, she was also threatened by some fans of the series, who apparently didn't like her character in the series: Referencing the threats in August 2013, Gunn wrote an excellent op-ed for the New York Times detailing the ways that her character and, by extension, herself, have been abused on the internet:

My character, to judge from the popularity of Web sites and Facebook pages devoted to hating her, has become a flash point for many people’s feelings about strong, non-submissive, ill-treated women. As the hatred of Skyler blurred into loathing for me as a person, I saw glimpses of an anger that, at first, simply bewildered me.

There are already quite a few strong women in police procedurals, and it's great to hear that we'll soon be getting another one on television with this spin-off — especially with an actress like Gunn at the helm. As of now, there's no word when the spin-off will premiere.