Coon even joked that Wever’s talent made her feel “terrible,” while Spector revealed he loved the “shared history” between George and his SIL.
The Gilded Age Season 3 Episode 4 finally introduces us to a character we first heard about all the way back in the HBO show’s series premiere. At long last, Bertha Russell (Carrie Coon) is forced to invite her sister Monica O’Brien (Merritt Wever) to 61st Street. Hardcore Gilded Age fans will recall that George Russell (Morgan Spector) wanted to invite Monica to stay with them as soon as they settled into the massive mansion, but Bertha shrugged the suggestion off. She was more interested in making new friends among the upper crust of “old” New York. Now, though, she must cave to her own family’s pressure to invite Monica so she can attend Gladys’s (Taissa Farmiga) lavish wedding to the Duke of Buckingham (Ben Lamb).
Even though we’ve only just met Monica in The Gilded Age Season 3 Episode 4, she still feels like a fully fleshed out character and beloved member of the Russell family. That’s in huge part thanks to the work of Emmy-winning actress Merritt Wever. Her seemingly effortless arrival on The Gilded Age actually made Carrie Coon a tiny bit jealous.
“Of course, Merritt, not only did she fit in seamlessly, but she also made me feel terrible because she’s just such a truthful and natural actor,” Carrie Coon told DECIDER. “When you see somebody like Merritt Wever walk on our set and just feel like a human being — which is something we fought so hard to feel like at the beginning — it just feels like, ‘I’m doing it wrong!’ Like, that’s the feeling I had.
