Margaret Catherine Sheila Thompson is a fictional character in the HBO crime drama series Boardwalk Empire, portrayed by Kelly Macdonald.
Born Margaret Catherine Sheila Rohan circa 1893 in County Kerry, Ireland, she was raised in a poor Catholic family, headed by her alcoholic father.
Schroeder is an abusive 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.
Nucky's brother Eli (Shea Whigham) and his deputy Ray Halloran (Adam Mucci) abduct Hans off the street and take him out to sea in a boat, whereupon they beat him to death and dump his body in the ocean.
When it is recovered the following day by fishermen, he is posthumously framed for a hijacking committed by Nucky's protégé Jimmy Darmody (Michael Pitt) and Al Capone (Stephen Graham).
When Van Alden subsequently shuts down a gathering of Irish bigwigs on Margaret's information, Nucky is struck by her vindictiveness and realizes that as a woman willing to sleep with men to get ahead, he wants her as his own.
[4] Following a tense exchange at the boutique with Nucky's former mistress, Lucy Danziger (Paz de la Huerta), Margaret quits her job.
This revelation leaves her unsure of Nucky's true feelings for her; her doubts grow worse when she realizes that he is using her connection to the Temperance League to shore up political support among female voters, and sees him talking to a former mistress.
Moved by Nucky's sincerity – and realizing that her family would likely starve without his support – Margaret renews the relationship, and rings in the new year at his side.
She returns home deeply depressed, and sleeps with Nucky's right-hand man Owen Sleater (Charlie Cox) to numb the pain.
She is unsure of what to do until she sees him teaching Emily to walk in her leg braces; she realizes that he loves her and her children, and marries him the following day after making a full confession to her parish priest.
Her protection from testifying – and the sudden murders of the witnesses against Nucky – destroys Randolph's case, and the US Attorney's Office is forced to drop the charges.
[13] By the third season, set 16 months later, Margaret and Nucky's marriage has fallen apart; the rare occasions in which they spend time together are spent arguing.
She shows him up in front of the Bishop in charge of the Catholic hospital, and forces the chief of medicine to set up a class on reproductive health.
[17] Nucky's war with New York gangster Gyp Rosetti (Bobby Cannavale) and an impending indictment from the Attorney General's Office frequently keep him away from home, and he tells Owen to watch over Margaret and the children.
Margaret bursts into tears at the sight of Owen's body, leading Nucky to realize the affair the two had been having, but nevertheless arranges for her and the children to hide from Masseria's men.