The data supports the trend. Women over 50 control vast amounts of wealth and streaming subscriptions. They want to see themselves reflected. Gen Z and Millennials, raised on diverse content, often prefer the authenticity of Maggie Smith’s violet-tongued Violet Crawley ( Downton Abbey ) to a manufactured teen influencer.
For the first time in the history of cinema, a 60-year-old actress does not have to play a "grandmother." She can play a CEO, a spy, a lover, a felon, or a superhero. She can be sexy, sad, angry, or silent. The ingénue had her century. The age of the éminence grise —the wise, powerful, grey-haired woman at the center of the frame—has finally arrived. The data supports the trend
But the script has flipped.