‘The Gilded Age’ Star Morgan Spector Unpacks George’s Episode 2 Showdown and Losing Control in Season 4

Note: This story contains spoilers from “The Gilded Age” Season 4, Episode 2.“The Gilded Age” brought George Russell face to face with the man who shot him, and the resolution set up an even darker road ahead. Season 4 Episode 2, titled “You Won’t Hear Me Beg,” saw George (Morgan Spector) learn that the young son of Anne and Patrick Morris shot him, in revenge for a failed business endeavor with George that drove his father to suicide. He kept the man in his custody for days and seemed intent on retribution for his near-fatal injury, but the Russell family patriarch allowed the boy and his mother Anne (Katie Finneran) to leave New York in exile. “George is not a killer. He’s not somebody who has the capacity to just snuff out a human life without remorse,” Spector told TheWrap of his character’s last-minute change of heart. “The boy is probably younger than [his son] Larry. He’s a kid who made a terrible decision. And I think partly because George is in the process of also making a series of terrible decisions, he’s able to have a little empathy with that young man.” It hasn’t been an easy time for George on “The Gilded Age” for some time now. Season 3 ended with him getting shot, prompting an emergency surgery at the Russell household that was performed in secret to avoid scandal. That left the character, who fans have dubbed “Railroad Daddy” on the internet, with a need to reexamine his legacy, along with his marriage to wife Bertha Russell (Carrie Coon). Season 3 ended with George leaving Bertha behind after a triumphant event, leaving the couple more fractured than ever. That distance remained when Bertha returned to New York. In Episode 2, Bertha returned home to a rushed welcome from Larry (Harry Richardson), while George was busy tending to his shooter. After his encounter with the shooter, George returned to Bertha’s side for comfort. When she demanded to reconcile once and for all, however, he still seemed hesitant — burdened with the secrets of business troubles with his rival Rockefeller and his growing addiction to laudanum. Morgan Spector and Carrie Coon in “The Gilded Age.” (HBO) “Bertha’s very isolated in that George isn’t being entirely honest with her about how bad things are. She knows something is wrong, but he won’t articulate exactly what it is, so she feels powerless to help him and it’s very frustrating. So she finds herself relying on some of her old strategies, and they’re not really panning out,” Coon said. “That feels like a very honest thing that can happen inside of a marriage. If you don’t have all the information, it’s hard for you to figure out. You’re not a mind reader.” “I was excited to see what Morgan had ahead of him as an actor, rising to the challenge of tackling that particular storyline,” she added, teasing trouble ahead. “I think of this as Morgan’s season.” “It was interesting to see what it feels like to be somebody who is usually really in control, really losing that control,” Spector said of George’s Season 4 journey. “Control and his obedience to his own will has been really fundamental to George, and he loses that this season.” Morgan Spector in “The Gilded Age.” (HBO) While “The Gilded Age” airs Season 4, Spector is stepping into an iconic character’s shoes for his next project. He’ll play Robert Langdon in an upcoming TV adaptation of Dan Brown’s “The Secret of Secrets” at Netflix. He stars opposite real-life wife Rebecca Hall. “It’s been really fun. We’re shooting right now in the Czech Republic. It’s a very different show. It’s a very different character, and it’s really fun to dive into something that’s totally new. I’m also working opposite my wife right now, which just feels like an incredible privilege. We just get to go to work and hang out all the time,” Spector said. “It’s going to be a really fun show. The cast is amazing. The crew is fantastic. It looks gorgeous. I haven’t seen anything yet, but the shots are incredible.” “The Gilded Age” Season 4 airs Sundays on HBO.