“I Don’t Think Of It As Selling Our Daughter”: The Gilded Age Stars Debate Bertha Russell’s Season 3 Plan

A new interview between HBO’s The Gilded Age‘s actors, Carrie Coon and Morgan Spector, has teased the growing divide between their characters over Gladys Russell’s fate in the upcoming season. The Gilded Age season 3 trailer has already teased that Bertha’s plans for Gladys meet a new kind of opposition from her husband, George (Spector). While George had previously promised Gladys that she could have a love marriage, her partnership with the Duke will be entirely based on status, causing friction.

Now, a new interview by Playbill has confirmed that Carrie Coon and Morgan Spector conceptualized Bertha’s season 3 plot for marrying Gladys in very different ways. When asked what Bertha could be getting up to this season, Coon answered, “We’re gonna marry off Gladys. I’m gonna marry off that girl.” In response, Spector stated, “You’re buying a Duke more than you’re selling the daughter.” Coon added, “I don’t think of it as selling our daughter,” instead highlighting the necessity of status in surviving Gilded Age life. Check out the full clip below:

What This Means For The Gilded Age Season 3

Gladys Will Continue To Struggle Against Her Mother’s Ambitions

Across The Gilded Age‘s first two seasons, Gladys has always been tightly under her mother’s control. While a lot of Gladys’s movements and interactions with men were hindered by Bertha’s control, her rejection of Oscar van Rhijn in season 2 gave Gladys more agency. This is especially true considering her father promised that she could have a love marriage. This was quickly taken from her, though, in Bertha’s quest to win the opera war, as Gladys’s mother promised her to the Duke of Buckingham, setting up The Gilded Age season 3.

While Bertha winning the opera war was very fun to see as a viewer, it does mean that she has permanently changed her daughter’s life. Bertha certainly sees the marriage as advantageous, since Gladys will get a title and be tied to English nobility, lifting the entire Russell family’s reputation with her. Though Bertha will be getting what she deems necessary for herself and Gladys out of the deal, this does mean Gladys will continue not to have control over her own life. Season 3 will hopefully see her push back against that.

Our Take On Carrie Coon And Morgan Spector’s Debate

Their Characters May Be More At Odds Than Ever Before

Coon and Spector’s Playbill interview really highlights just how differently their characters see Gladys’s situation in season 3. Coon’s Bertha Russell understands what it is to be a woman in this world, and from her point of view she is doing something good for Gladys. In contrast, George is clearly more focused on Gladys’s happiness. While the pair have typically worked together as a team throughout the series, Coon and Spector’s debate hints that they will have much more trouble seeing eye to eye this season.

Coon and Spector’s dynamic has always played very well on-screen, so giving them something serious to argue over as a couple is going to be incredibly interesting to watch. Season 3 is going to be a huge time of change for the Russell family, as has been hinted at both in the interview and through the trailer. Additionally, knowing that divorce is the theme of the season, The Gilded Age season 3 seems set to be the most dramatic and action-packed yet.