'Downton Abbey' season 6 cast & spoilers: Joanne Froggatt plays serial killer role in 'Dark Angel'

This year's Golden Globe Awardee for Best Supporting Actress on Television has something sinister up her sleeve. Joanne Froggatt, who plays the kind-hearted head housemaid Anna Bates in the widely followed Downton Abbey, is ready to put away her uniform to play another very interesting role.

Earlier this year, ITV reported that the 35-year-old actress was excited to pursue other antagonistic roles. She said: "I'd like to work on a big-budget US film, ideally playing the total opposite of Anna Bates, someone really evil. It would be nice to do lots of different roles and swap between TV, film and theatre like Judi Dench and Helen Mirren do. That's the perfect mix."

It seems that her dreams of an "evil" role have come true, as Froggatt was cast as a cold-blooded murderer in ITV's upcoming drama, "Dark Angel." The Mirror reports that she will be playing the role of Mary Ann Cotton, who was historically known for murdering three of her four husbands, and a slew of children, all for financial gain.

ITV's Victoria Fea said, "We're delighted to have an actress of Joanne Froggatt's calibre in the lead role. The combination of a tautly written script, an outstanding cast and great producers in World Productions make this a really exciting addition to the ITV drama slate."

Speaking of Froggatt's artistic calibre, who could forget her portrayal of a rape victim in the form of Downton Abbey's Anna Bates? Froggatt told The Hollywood Reporter last year that the role was "An unusual distinction to have, but I'm quite honored, actually. I thought [creator] Julian Fellowes wrote the emotional journey of the character extremely well, and as an actress it was great to do something challenging in the fourth season of a show. Aside from that, I thought it was an important issue to tackle, really. And of course, it was quite a shocking thing to have happen to Anna."

In fact, the actress was proud that the show managed to tackle an issue given the period of time the story was set. She said: "I think the important thing about the storyline is that it raised the question. If a drama can't do that, it's a sad day. I'm proud that I've been a small part of something that at least got people talking about a sensitive, powerful subject matter."

She added: "It's so difficult for victims of sexual attacks to come forward even now. It just makes you wonder how many women suffered this sort of ordeal and were never able to speak of it."

Froggatt is currently filming Dark Angel, and Downton Abbey will be back for its 6th and final season in the U.S. in January 2016.