{"id":136711,"date":"2025-08-11T10:36:13","date_gmt":"2025-08-11T10:36:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/136711\/"},"modified":"2025-08-11T10:36:13","modified_gmt":"2025-08-11T10:36:13","slug":"after-gilded-age-finale-carrie-coon-sees-bertha-as-villain-no-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/136711\/","title":{"rendered":"After ‘Gilded Age’ finale, Carrie Coon sees Bertha as Villain No. 1"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Even hardcore fans of HBO\u2019s \u201cThe Gilded Age\u201d<\/a> may have been surprised how far Bertha Russell, portrayed by now three-time Emmy nominee Carrie Coon, went this season in her quest to climb the heights of 1880s New York society. After forcing her daughter Gladys (Taissa Farmiga) to marry a British duke to solidify the family\u2019s social standing, she insulted her angel of a son, Larry (Harry Richardson), after pooh-poohing his own engagement. In fact, the Russell family matriarch left enough hurt feelings and resentment in her path that when asked if Bertha has become the show\u2019s biggest villain Coon gleefully exclaims, \u201cI hope so!\u201d<\/p>\n

In the season finale, Bertha\u2019s shepherding of the Newport Ball supersedes attending to her husband, George (Morgan Spector), still recovering from an assassination attempt. Her choices culminate in a bombshell that Coon sort of saw coming. She believed creator Julian Fellowes and his writing team were setting it up all season.<\/p>\n

\u201cBertha has not stopped and taken stock of the impact of her choices, and therefore it feels out of the blue,\u201d Coon says of the third season\u2019s deliciously melodramatic confrontation between the usually closely allied spouses. \u201cBut anybody that\u2019s had that conversation in a breakup knows that those things are never out of the blue.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s very persuasive or coercive, depending on how you feel about her. She feels as though she\u2019s blindsided by it when the audience knows very well that this controversy has been building. That\u2019s just dramatic irony. That\u2019s just good tension.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Carrie <\/p>\n

Carrie Coon as Bertha Russell in \u201cThe Gilded Age\u201d Season 3.<\/p>\n

(Karolina Wojtasik \/ HBO)<\/p>\n

She clarifies, \u201cI don\u2019t know what will happen to George and Bertha. I know that Bertha is relentless, and she won\u2019t give up. But what I love too is that George has had a near-death experience, which is very jarring, and he is starting to question his own life, his own choices. And I think it\u2019s actually quite complicated that he\u2019s struggling so mightily, even though we know historically their marriage has been very solid, very honest, very sexy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Just a few months ago, Coon was an integral part of another pop culture sensation, Mike White\u2019s \u201cThe White Lotus.\u201d<\/a> Her performance as Laurie, a divorced New York lawyer attempting to reconnect with lifelong friends Jaclyn (Michelle Monaghan) and Kate (Leslie Bibb), saw her rewarded with an Emmy nod for supporting actress in a drama<\/a>. Out of curiosity, what would Laurie think of \u201cThe Gilded Age\u201d if she turned it on every Sunday when she returned to New York?<\/p>\n

Without hesitation Coon replies, \u201cOh, I think she would appreciate the fact that the story was being served to her in such a way that she didn\u2019t have to overthink it because her brain is so exhausted. But I suspect that actually Laurie\u2019s watching things like \u2018Naked and Afraid.\u2019 I think she just goes home and turns on mindless reality TV, which is very far from me. She\u2019s watching \u2018Real Housewives.\u2019 She\u2019s watching a bunch of s\u2014. Whoa. Wait. I say that lovingly!\u201d<\/p>\n

During the last dinner the trio of friends share at the fictional Thai resort, the relationship among Laurie, Kate and Jaclyn comes to a climax<\/a>. Laurie confesses she\u2019s been sad the entire week of their stay, but despite their differences and competitiveness, the fact they can still sit together around a pool after all these years means something to her. Filmed at the end of an often-grueling shoot where temperatures at times topped 120 degrees and dehydration was a serious concern, Coon says the scene had added resonance because she and her co-stars \u201chad gone through it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe audiences see six days of resort life, but we are living six to seven months of resort life together as roommates,\u201d Coon says. \u201cSo we had a lot to draw on in that scene by the time we got to it. And of course, the most extreme part is that we were shooting it inside of what\u2019s effectively a greenhouse. That little dining area is so hot. You can\u2019t run the air conditioners. We were just soaking. You didn\u2019t see the pile of tissues next to my chair. Not because we\u2019re crying, but because we are absolutely soaking wet. It\u2019s a very different challenge in terms of acting.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Coon <\/p>\n

Coon delivering Laurie\u2019s much-discussed monologue in \u201cThe White Lotus.\u201d<\/p>\n

(HBO)<\/p>\n

Many characters this season resonated with viewers, but Coon says she was moved by how many think pieces were written about these particular women and their friendship. In her opinion, they were the \u201csneaky heart of the season\u201d because White understood their relationship so well.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was very proud of us,\u201d Coon admits. \u201cAnd any attention that speech is getting, I share with Michelle and Leslie because the only reason it lands is ultimately because of the friendship, not because of me specifically as a performer.\u201d<\/p>\n

She says there is nothing better than being recognized by your peers, but \u201cThe Leftovers\u201d standout thinks her recognition is also partially because she happens to be on shows people are watching.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have so many friends nominated this year,\u201d Coon beams. \u201cNot only people on my show but Julianne [Nicholson]. I\u2019m working with Bella Ramsey right now. So proud of them. It\u2019s always fun to see your friends be celebrated as well. And the longer you\u2019re in this business, the more people and the more fun it gets to be the third time around.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Even hardcore fans of HBO\u2019s \u201cThe Gilded Age\u201d may have been surprised how far Bertha Russell, portrayed by…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":136712,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[82179,51255,13990,171,14167,52397,1532,19277,82181,82182,82180,82183,5950,4370,6620,173,67,132,68,70770],"class_list":{"0":"post-136711","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tv","8":"tag-bertha","9":"tag-carrie-coon","10":"tag-choice","11":"tag-entertainment","12":"tag-fact","13":"tag-finale","14":"tag-friend","15":"tag-george","16":"tag-gilded-age","17":"tag-kate","18":"tag-laurie","19":"tag-michelle-monaghan","20":"tag-season","21":"tag-show","22":"tag-time","23":"tag-tv","24":"tag-united-states","25":"tag-unitedstates","26":"tag-us","27":"tag-white-lotus"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115009695744025803","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136711","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=136711"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136711\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/136712"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=136711"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=136711"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=136711"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}