Several trailblazers have paved the way for this current era: Meryl Streep: The gold standard for longevity and constant reinvention. Helen Mirren:

In Being the Ricardos , Kidman (55) played Lucy as volatile, genius, and deeply human. In Mare of Easttown , Winslet (46 at the time) played a detective who was exhausted, frumpy, emotionally damaged, and utterly magnetic. These roles refuse to be "likable." They demand we see middle-aged women as complex, contradictory, and messy—just like every male anti-hero from Tony Soprano to Walter White.