Netflix’s Sweet Magnolias is back in conversations, as viewers tune into the romantic drama’s third season.
Despite a few issues with season 3’s pacing, the show is as popular as ever, and audiences are already looking forward to a hopeful season 4 announcement. Several of the show’s stars are seeing a boost in their own popularity, as interest in the show continues to peak, and people look into the talented people behind fan-favorite characters.
Or not so favorite. Noreen isn’t necessarily a villain in the Sweet Magnolias story, but she’s far from the most popular character. Pair that with the issues some viewers have with the actress behind Bill’s mistress, and she might actually be the least popular person on the show. Unpopular doesn’t equal irrelevant, however, and Noreen is certainly a vital part of the Sweet Magnolias formula.
Who plays Noreen Fitzgibbons?
Noreen is brought to the small screen by none other than Jamie Lynn Spears – younger sister of Britney Spears herself. She’s been a bit of a controversial figure over the years, which both helps and hurts her optics as Noreen Fitzgibbons.
See, Noreen is the mistress of Bill, who just so happens to be married to one of the Sweet Magnolias leads when the show begins. As such, she’s inherently among the show’s lesser-liked characters — early on, at least — and Spears’ controversial status off-screen only aided in painting her as an opposite to the show’s sweet central characters.
The bulk of these bad optics relate back to Britney herself, and the conservatorship that ended in 2021. Following the conservatorship’s long-overdue end, Britney accused her younger sister of ignoring the stringent, abusive terms of the court order, and even getting involved in it first-hand. The younger Spears has denied these claims, but her word against Britney’s — and her efforts to control the conversation via her book, Things I Should Have Said: Family, Fame, and Figuring it Out — didn’t go over well with Britney fans. They’ve seen the younger Spears as the bad guy ever since, and her role on Sweet Magnolias works perfectly into that narrative.
On the show itself, however, Spears’ Noreen has undergone some major growth. She may have believed all of Bill’s promises back in season 1, but she’s grown up by season 3. She’s working to find happiness via a much healthier route, and fans are finding themselves cheering for her — even if, occasionally, it’s despite themselves.