Amy Madigan’s Academy Awards Nom Is the Perfect Excuse to Rewatch Her Sci-Fi TV Masterclass

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Carolyn Jenkins is a voracious consumer of film and television. She graduated from Long Island University with an MFA in Screenwriting and Producing where she learned the art of character, plot, and structure. The best teacher is absorbing media and she spends her time reading about different worlds from teen angst to the universe of Stephen King.

The winner of this year’s award season goes to Amy Madigan, one of the nominees for the Academy Awards Best Supporting Actress. Madigan portrayed one of the most terrifying villains of the year in Zach Cregger’s Weapons. The follow-up to the director’s phenomenal Barbarian was a haunting portrayal of grief. Madigan portrayed Gladys, the insidious force behind the sudden disappearance of 17 schoolchildren. Cregger masterfully stitched together a narrative from multiple perspectives, culminating in Gladys’ plan for the children of the town. Madigan’s performance was a standout, a highlight in a career full of memorable roles.

With her nomination, now is the perfect time to revisit one of her more underrated roles in a hidden sci-fi gem. Madigan appeared in three episodes of Fox’s Fringe, a spiritual successor to The X-Files. Starring Anna Torv, the series follows FBI Agent Olivia Dunham, who gets pulled into investigations of fringe science, known as The Pattern. Joined by genius father-and-son duo Walter (John Noble) and Peter Bishop (Joshua Jackson), the Fringe team solves the greater mysteries of the world, even jumping to parallel dimensions. Madigan’s role as Olivia’s mother was brief but an important part of the protagonist’s journey in one of the best sci-fi series of all time.

‘Fringe’ Put Olivia Through a Heart-Wrenching Crucible

Throughout the course of Fringe, Olivia Dunham’s path was never smooth. She starts the series being betrayed by her partner and lover, which leads her to discover the existence of The Pattern. In many ways, things get worse for her, especially after the discovery of a parallel universe, not unlike this one. These universes have many similarities, including dopplegängers who are only slightly different from one another. In one of Olivia’s most painful arcs, she travels to the other universe and confesses her love for Peter, only to be trapped there and brainwashed into thinking she is Fauxlivia.

At the beginning of Season 3, it seems that Olivia is getting a chance to break out of this trap and return home. Instead, Walternate successfully convinces Olivia that she is her own dopplegänger, so she won’t leave the parallel universe. This event is cemented when Olivia returns home to find that her mother, who is dead in her own universe, is alive and well. Amy Madigan plays Olivia’s mother, Marilyn, in an emotional reunion. Olivia's real mother died when she was 14, but after seeing Marilyn, the brainwashing becomes complete. Olivia believes this version of Marilyn is her real mother and allows her to believe that she is in the correct universe.

Madigan’s brief role in the series is necessary to Olivia’s plot development during this arc. Without her role, the intrepid FBI agent wouldn’t be trapped in an alternate universe, unaware that she isn't where she's supposed to be. Season 3 is one of Fringe's strongest seasons, elevating it from a monster-of-the-week show to one full of fascinating lore and mythology. Fringe was a highly underrated series and showcased Madigan in a poignant role before Weapons could break fans’ hearts.