Margaret Thompson

Margaret Thompson
Boardwalk Empire character
Promotional image for season 2 of Boardwalk Empire.
First appearance	"Boardwalk Empire"
Last appearance	"Eldorado"
Created by	Terence Winter
Portrayed by	Kelly Macdonald
Information
Occupation	Salesgirl, housewife
Family	Eamonn Rohan (brother) Nuala Rohan (sister) Bethany Rohan (sister) Éilish Rohan (sister)
Spouse(s)	Hans Schroeder (first husband, deceased) Enoch "Nucky" Thompson
Children	Theodore ("Teddy"), Emily

Margaret Thompson is a fictional character in the HBO crime drama series Boardwalk Empire, portrayed by Kelly Macdonald. An Irish immigrant living in 1920s Atlantic City, New Jersey, she is the mistress and eventual wife of Atlantic County treasurer and crime boss Enoch "Nucky" Thompson (Steve Buscemi).

Born Margaret Catherine Sheila Rohan circa 1893 in County Kerry, Ireland, she is raised in a poor Catholic family, headed by her alcoholic father. She lived in Templenoe and was nicknamed "Peg." She becomes pregnant as a teenager by her employer's son, and her family sends her to the Magdalene Asylum. Desperate to escape, she steals her brother Eamonn's (Tony Curran) inheritance and uses it to emigrate to America. She departs from Galway on September 27, 1909 and lands in America on October 12. She miscarries during the voyage.

Some time afterwards, she marries Hans Schroeder (Joseph Sikora), with whom she has two children, Teddy and Emily. Schroeder is an alcoholic who beats her, which motivates her to join the Woman's Christian Temperance League and campaign for the passage of the Volstead Act, which ushers in Prohibition.

In the series' pilot episode, Margaret is pregnant with Schroeder's third child. Fearing that Schroeder will drink their family into poverty, she goes to Nucky and asks him to give Schroeder a job. Nucky is immediately taken with her and promises to help, and gives her some money. That night, Schroeder finds the money and beats her so badly that she has a miscarriage. Angered, Nucky has him killed and posthumously framed for a hijacking committed by his protegé Jimmy Darmody (Michael Pitt) and Al Capone (Stephen Graham). After Margaret recovers, Nucky gets her a job as a salesgirl at a boutique. Margaret and Nucky become close, with Nucky particularly impressed by her willingness to stand up to his associate Senator Walter Edge (Geoff Pierson) during a discussion about women's suffrage.