SPOILER ALERT! This story contains details from Sunday’s episode of The Gilded Age on HBO.
Bertha, 1, Gladys 0: Mama Russell finally saw her dream come true for her only daughter in the latest episode of the Julian Fellowes drama.
Despite the wishes of young Gladys (Taissa Farmiga) and the serious concern displayed by her newly introduced auntie Monica (welcome to the party, Merritt Wever!), Carrie Coon’s Bertha Russell sent her daughter down the aisle to marry Hector, Duke of Buckingham [Ben Lamb].
Here, Farmiga addresses her character’s state of mind going into the big event and what viewers can expect when she returns home with her new husband.
DEADLINE First, the most important question: Do you get to keep the Gladys portrait that was revealed in episode 3?
TAISSA FARMIGA That is the big question of season three. Honestly, I don’t think I have an apartment or a house big enough to fit the portrait. I wish I could have, but honestly, I think my ego would grow way too big if I had a bigger-than-life size rendition of myself. When I stand next to it, it’s taller than me. What’s funny is I passed by this office [during production] and saw people standing and gawking at something. I walked in and it was my portrait. There were seven different sizes and options for them to choose from. But I was like, “holy shit.” It was very uncomfortable to see all my eyeballs on me.
DEADLINE It’s very strange to watch Gladys’ journey this season through 21st century eyes because, well, who wouldn’t want Gladys to go on strike and refuse to obey her mother’s wishes?
TAISSA FARMIGA It’s interesting because I’m a pretty independent 30-year-old woman playing Gladys. Sometimes I just want to shake her and say, “do what you want to do! You have one life! You don’t have to follow what one person wants for you.” But then I remember it’s the 1880s, and the corset is a very good reminder that women didn’t have the same options for freedom at that time that we do now. It’s frustrating because Gladys is obviously very much opposed to Bertha’s control and desire to plan her daughter’s entire future. But Bertha is trying to look out for a future in which Gladys has freedom. For Bertha, true freedom for a woman in the 1880s is having status in society. And I think Gladys, or for any 18-year-old, it, it’s hard to think that far ahead and understand that someone’s trying to do something for your happiness in the future. At that moment, she’s just stuck and has to follow the rules of that time period, as shitty as that is.
DEADLINE At the moment of the wedding, does Gladys revile her mother?
TAISSA FARMIGA I think at that moment it’s more numbness than any sort of other heated emotion. She’s been feeling so much hatred, so much anger, so much sadness, so much disappointment these last few episodes. There’s disappointment in Billy Carlton [Matt Walker] for not fighting for her and not being the partner that she needed him to be. And her father George [Morgan Spector], the other man in her life, who is ssaying one thing and doing the opposite. He said that she could marry for love. She’s deceived and disappointed, and of course she’s fucking pissed at the mother. But I think in that moment, the pressures of all of the voices around her, all of the people telling her what she should do, what she shouldn’t do, I think she’s just numb. She can’t fear anything anymore.
DEADLINE Are her feelings toward her father pretty much the same as they are toward her mother?
TAISSA FARMIGA I think there’s a bit more nuance to it. I think with her mom, there’s definitely more anger. It’s more of a fiery feeling inside. With her father, it’s more disappointment. It’s the feeling of when someone says, I’m mad at you, that almost makes you mad. But when someone says, I’m disappointed in you, that’s just heartbreaking.
DEADLINE At this point, how does Gladys feel about the Duke she’s marrying?
TAISSA FARMIGA Hector’s an interesting man. Gladys has been so focused on not marrying this person that she never really took time to put herself in a situation where she could get to know the Duke more. I don’t think it’s actually even personal. I mean, she does say in one of the episodes, I don’t like him. But I think she doesn’t like him because her mother’s forcing her to marry him. It is not until this episode where they finally are in a room, just the two of them alone, when they have a conversation. That’s the first time she really gets to see a bit of Hector’s personality, and realizes that he’s trying to be straightforward and honest with her. I think that maybe gives her a spark of hope, because the previous two men in her life right now, her father and Billy Carlton, promised one thing and then did something else. So there’s just a tiny glimmer of hope of, well, maybe he’s different. But I don’t think she has very many pleasant feelings toward anybody right now.
DEADLINE Can we take a second to discuss your character’s name? Did you have a moment in season one where you questioned how old that name sounded?
TAISSA FARMIGA It’s quite weird. In the beginning, when production was like, “Gladys, we need you.” I was like, “who the hell is Gladys?” It’s kind a weird contradiction between that time period and modern age.
DEADLINE The costumes have been terrific this year. How has it been physically for you? Are you nipped and tucked in all sorts of places?
TAISSA FARMIGA Sometimes yes, sometimes no. I will tell you that I’m one of the actresses who enjoys comfort, so I do like to make sure before I go into a fitting that I eat a burger and an ice cream sundae to make sure I am as bloated as possible. That way, when they’re fitting me for the corset and the gown, there’s room to eat on the day of filming. It’s something that I learned back in season one. This season I was so happy. It’s my little trick to make sure on the day I want that extra brownie after lunch, I can have it.
DEADLINE What can we expect from Gladys in the coming episodes? Does she find agency?
TAISSA FARMIGA Gladys’ arc this season is quite a ride. We’ve already seen this in the first four episodes. She started season three with a bit of newfound confidence. She has her eye on this suitor that her mother didn’t want her to marry, but someone who she loved and was starting to find herself with. She gained a bit of backbone and individuality. And then by episode four, you see how beat down she is and emotionally in the dumps, based on everything that she’s going through with the arranged marriage and the person that she loves disappointing her. I think her brother Larry [Harry Richardson] might be the only man in her life who’s been tried and true and there for her. So I think for the rest of the season, it’s going to be a continuation of that rollercoaster. There’s going to be a moment where she tries to find her footing, but then there’s going to be some new female power that takes her down at the knees and she’s got to figure out how to survive.
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