Entertainment
Why Carrie Coon Is Comparing ‘Gilded Age’ Character Bertha to Kris Jenner! (Exclusive)


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Carrie Coon and Morgan Spector are dishing on “The Gilded Age” Season 3.
“Extra” spoke with the two, who teased where we’ll find the Russells, with Carrie sharing that Bertha is still in hot pursuit of daughter Gladys’ marriage to raise the family’s social standing.
She stressed, “I want her to have influence and power in the world, and she will get that through marriage. That is the only way she will get it, because if there was any other way to get it, I’d have it already and I don’t.”
Explaining her character’s actions, Carrie shared, “Bertha understands that, you know, over time, life, perhaps, will become less fulfilling when all those social events start to fall away and you get older and you want to have an impact. Bertha is trying to set her up to have an impact — that’s all.”
While all this is happening, Morgan’s character George is trying to build a legacy with the railroad.
Morgan dished, “The George is really driven by this, like, quest for legacy… He’s trying to be the first to market and to really dominate the transcontinentals, but I think he’s also driven by this need to really put his stamp on the world.”
He added, “The real emotional struggle this season is how to keep Gladys from being made miserable by her mother’s ambitions for her. I think the way Gladys becomes kind of a pawn in Bertha’s quest for power is something that George is really wrestling with in a variety of ways.”
Carrie and Morgan also reflected on the dichotomy between old money and new money, drawing parallels to the influencer culture of today.
Coon explained, “Old money recognized how powerful the new money was, right? It’s all about money and that economic stratification and it’s being mirrored in our society.”
Referencing today’s society, she went on, “It’s not different — the people can buy their way in, they can buy their influence now. People who show up at these events have a lot of money and a lot of power, a lot of followers… it hasn’t changed very much.”
Is Bertha an influencer? Carrie answered, “I think she thinks of herself as trying to push trends and stuff like that… Because, of course, this was the birth of the paparazzi, you know, the wedding was a big deal, people taking photographs outside of these things and what they wore.”
“She’s calling the newspapers,” Morgan chimed in.
When asked if Bertha is like Kris Jenner, she commented, “Yeah, she is, a little bit. I think she is the Kris Jenner. And even her fashion is, you know, we intentionally have her fashion ahead of the time she’s living in… Modern audiences will pick up on those slight changes. So, yeah, I love that. Bertha is really trying to push things.”
Carrie was filming “The Gilded Age” and “The White Lotus” at the same time!
Off the mega success of “The White Lotus” Season 3, could her character Laurie be back for Season 4?
Coon commented, “Yes… Anyone Mike White chooses can come back, and if she did, I hope wherever we are, it’s winter.”
Carrie filmed “The White Lotus” in Thailand, noting, “It can’t be any warmer than where we were.”
“The Gilded Age” premieres June 22 on Max.