Harry Richardson has been a delight portraying Larry Russell, the only son of Bertha and George Russell, especially on this third season of The Gilded Age.
As his relationship with Marian or Ms. Brook (Louisa Jacobson) has blossomed into a beautiful romance, their coupling has become a fan favorite. From knowing glances to stolen kisses, viewers have also become engulfed in their love — as well as in their agony. Marian has struggled with finding love, particularly one accepted by society norms of the day. Her Aunt Agnes (Christine Baranski) doesn’t think the young Mr. Russell is a proper suitor. But fortunate for Marian, her Aunt Ada (Cynthia Nixon), as well as good friend Peggy (Denée Benton), have been on board.
And that boded well for Larry until Marian discovered he lied to her and her aunts about going to dinner with his buddies at a restaurant and instead visited “a place of ill repute.” When Larry left for a month on business for his father and their family empire, he and Marian were giddy. Upon his return, they were to properly announce their engagement. Instead, he found a letter breaking off their engagement with Marian refusing his every attempt to find out why. When he finally corners her in her classroom, she is still dismissive when he tells her that nothing happened. And while she does eventually come around, now Larry is in his feelings, leaving fans wondering if the final episode of the season will bring them back together where they belong.
Richardson spoke to The Hollywood Reporter about Larry and Marian ahead of the finale. He also answered a few questions about how his character has grown over three seasons, and shed a little insight on Larry’s super cute relationship with his younger sister Gladys (Taissa Farmiga).
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Talk about taking on the role of Larry and the kind of changes Larry’s gone through over the last few seasons from when we were first introduced to him to where he is now in his life on the show.
It’s been a five-year journey. I first read this project in October 2019. So, it’s been a long time in our world, but in Larry’s world, he’s definitely been through a lot of different changes and iterations. When we first met Larry, he was a very recent University graduate, really young and ambitious, but not sure at all what direction he wanted to go. He didn’t really have any experience in matters of the heart or business or being out in the real world. So, he has an incredible sweetness, and he also has the strength of the family he comes from.
We’ve seen Larry go from being an innocent and somewhat under-informed young man with some dreams to striving out on his own, on his own path, and we’ve seen him figure out what that means. Going through a lot of complications with having to fight back against his family in order to be taken seriously when he wanted to try his hat at different businesses and different iterations of who he is as a man. Seeing him go on the journey of trying to study architecture rather than just going into his family business and trying to contribute to the world in that way. And then I think he got his heart and business a little wrapped up in season two, with his affair with his boss, or with a client who was hiring him, with Susan Blaine [Laura Benanti]. That was an interesting maturing path for him in matters of the heart, because he realized he was actually heartbroken for the first time, and witnessed the controlling nature of his parents in action with his mother, in particular.
In this season, we’ve really seen him go, “No, you know what? I’m going to do this properly, and I’m going to follow my own intuition.:” And he really does follow it up by working with Jack and by deepening his romantic connection with Marian, and really going after that business adventure as well as the proposal. And we see him really not asking for anybody’s input and doing his own thing. And I think that has some fabulous successes this season, and also some complications.
THR talked to Taissa Farmiga about Larry and Gladys’ relationship. Can you also speak a little bit about that, particularly the scene where Gladys begs Larry to talk to Billy, and Larry is like “if he didn’t go and ask for your hand, there’s nothing I can say?” So while he has this protective lovingness towards Gladys, he’s always truthful with her.
He really is her best friend in a lot of ways. Back then, unmarried men and women didn’t have many opportunities to have friendships that [didn’t involve] romance. I think that’s why their sibling relationship is so deep as friends. They really are leaning on each other for this support. That scene with him talking about Billy is really interesting because she really wants him to solve a situation that he can’t. There’s nothing he can do about it. Because they both [are at] the whims of what’s going on in that time, they can’t just sneak off and have a relationship away from their parents knowing. Billy and Gladys can’t because there’s no space for that, and it’s very, very frowned upon. It is a really beautiful example of how these pressures of society could cause major heartbreak, and what these restrictions actually did for young people with the inability for them to follow their heart. Gladys’ arc this year is really spectacular and really moving. Taissa did a phenomenal job portraying both wanting to follow her heart and fighting against the societal pressures and eventually her acceptance of what path she was being thrust upon. I think watching it has been especially moving.
Speaking of moving, Larry and Marian’s relationship this year has been a pleasant surprise. It was really, really wonderful and a bit agonizing that they really leaned into the romance of this pairing.
I’ve thought since the first audition, “Oh, is this going to happen? Like, is this meet cute [sic] in this first scene with a pumpkin crossing the road?” And Michael Engler and the [other] producers were saying, “No, no, they’re just friends and, like, keep it very playful.” But we always just had this question like the audience did of, how are they going to play out this relationship? I think it’s a really special one because they have such a long history of being friends and being a support for each other. So there is this real appreciation of each other. It’s not just this whirlwind romance out of nowhere.
What was the moment for Larry that Marian became a possibility up until becoming potentially the one?
In season two, that first kiss was a very potent moment because I think, in that moment, not only was that happening, but he was realizing, “Oh, this person’s been there,” and maybe this is a situation which he would love to follow and focus on and [he’s] realizing the love that he has there, which I think is really sweet.
Well, their relationship becomes very Jane Austen-ish in the sense that we have this great moment between the two of them with the engagement, then it falls apart.
Well, the complications are very, very interesting this year, because I think it deals with the pressures on the young woman to have a clean societal image. You know the fact that she’s had two failed engagements, in her mind, brings along with it a lot of societal complexity and a lot of judgment. So the fear of her having a third [failed engagement] and then being labeled as this sort of problematic young woman is very real for her. What I love about their relationship this season is that it really shows how toxic fear can be. And on both of their parts, fear is what leads to [their] complications. Marian’s very afraid that she’s going to have this downfall and this humiliation societally, and Larry is fearful that he’s not going to be able to trust her in communicating and staying together to work through the problems and committing.
The inability to communicate the way we’re able to today seems to complicate Larry and Marian’s union. Because Larry was away, they couldn’t just phone each other. So he has no idea what has happened because he went away thinking when he came back in a month his life could truly start and when he returns, his life is falling apart.
That’s definitely related to the time period. However, I also think that it’s very relatable. Even though we have this incredible facility with communication, I can pick up my phone right now and [a conversation] happens right then, whether or not, it’s true communication is debatable and one acting in this fear is another question. So when we get to see them actually come face to face in order to try and confront this situation and the problem and what’s coming up for both of them. It’s really beautiful to see the ways in which they’re unable to leave their egos at the door and really try and listen to each other and understand what’s happening.
Well that whole situation also reveals two things about Larry. On one hand, he doesn’t tell Marian where he was to protect her. And, truthfully, men of that day would share these types of things. Actually men of today don’t share these kinds of things. But on the other hand, he got caught essentially being a good guy looking out for her family by telling her cousin Oscar about Maud Beaton.
It’s also that we see him tell that lie in front of Ada and Agnes and that shows also his contemplation of his sensitivity to their perception of him, and how much he wants their approval. He’s not wholeheartedly looking for it, but I think it’s in his mind that he wants them to approve of him as a suitor to their niece. It’s really important. And so I think that in that circumstance, he sees the situation and he’s like ‘Oh, tell a different story, because I don’t want them to think I’m a cad.’ And I think it’s definitely a mistake, but it’s one that we can kind of understand.
This season Larry has been standing up to Bertha even more. And even though he’s clearly smitten with Marian does it give him a little extra prodding that his mother doesn’t really like it?
Maybe there’s a bit of defiance there. There’s also somewhat of an overcompensation and like an exaggerated conflict with his mother because of the heartbreak he felt in the last season in his last relationship with her definitely meddling in it, and him not having any ability to work through that. So I think he’s like, this time that’s not going to happen. And he’s very defensive.
How did you and Louisa build that chemistry?
Louisa and I definitely have a very trusting and close friendship that [allows] a lot of safe exploration, not only into the chemistry, but into the dissonance. It’s one thing to create this swooning romance, but it’s another thing in trying to figure out the subtleties of where there is disconnect, and like a bit of arguing and bickering and the ego coming into play with this connection. We’re seeing them both triggered in this. And so I really feel grateful for our friendship and safety with one another that we can really explore the more complicated nature of the relationship as well as the very swooning and beautiful romance of it all.
Where is Larry at with Marian, especially now that she believes him?
It’s a very interesting question, and that was really fascinating to explore together as actors and with everyone involved in this situation. There’s a huge pressure. I’m not quite sure what direction they would go in because both of them are kind of in a state of ego. In my perception, it’s like they both feel wronged by each other. In the circumstance, she feels very wronged that he lied to her. And once she understands that the worst didn’t happen, in her mind, she’s still holding on to this break of trust. And he feels a break of trust in the fact that she didn’t come to him about it and speak to him. And as he said “you believed the words of your footman before you’d come to ask me about it.”
I think they both got a point on some level, but also we’re seeing the example of two young people who are held back by fear [and] that’s getting in the way of them truly leading from the heart and falling into each other. I think it’s a really very relatable experience and narrative, personally. I see a lot of us always grappling with this, but how’s that going to work? Maybe that will lead to unhappiness in the future. But I definitely feel like I’m rooting for those characters to find a way into really understanding each other and working together to grow.
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The season three finale of The Gilded Age airs this Sunday at 6 p.m. PT/9 p.m. ET on HBO Max, with all episodes streaming later.
www.hollywoodreporter.com
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