Editor’s note: The below interview contains spoilers for Season 2 of The Gilded Age.

The Big Picture

Turner’s return in Season 2 of The Gilded Age was a surprise reveal that even reviewers were forbidden from mentioning in advance coverage. Her character, Mrs. Winterton, has reinvented herself and is now married to a rich widower with connections to high society. Actress Kelley Curran says that Turner’s ultimate goal is to become Mrs. Astor and run society, which puts her in direct conflict with Bertha, but also creates a strange intimacy between them.

We’re only three episodes into The Gilded Age’s second season, and already, creator Julian Fellowes seems to have kicked the drama up a sizable notch. While the biggest, overarching storyline of Season 2 revolves around the ongoing “opera war” between new-money rising name Bertha Russell (Carrie Coon) and old-money socialite Mrs. Astor (Donna Murphy), there’s a brand-new wrench that’s been thrown into the fray — a blast from the past, if you will. Those who vividly recall the events of Season 1 will remember Turner (Kelley Curran), Bertha’s former lady’s maid with ambitions far above her current station. Although her attempts to seduce Bertha’s husband George (Morgan Spector) go unrequited, and Turner is later fired for an unrelated incident, the former maid has clearly reinvented herself in the break between seasons. Season 2 doesn’t take long to reintroduce Turner to the Russells as Mrs. Winterton, the new wife of a rich widower with connections to the upper echelons of New York society.

Turner’s return to the series was a reveal so shocking and juicy that reviewers were forbidden from mentioning it in advance coverage of Season 2 — but it’s also very clear that the new Mrs. Winterton still has her sights set high. In terms of what, exactly, her plan might involve, Collider decided to go straight to the source for a chat with Curran about being one of the biggest surprises of Season 2 so far. Over the course of the interview, which you can read below, Curran confirms when she knew she’d be coming back to The Gilded Age, what appeals to her in terms of playing a character like this, the strange intimacy that exists between Bertha and Mrs. Winterton now, and more.

The Gilded Age A wide-eyed young scion of a conservative family embarks on a mission to infiltrate the wealthy neighboring clan dominated by ruthless railroad tycoon George Russell, his rakish son, Larry, and his ambitious wife, Bertha. Release Date January 24, 2022 Cast Carrie Coon, Morgan Spector, Louisa Jacobson, Denée Benton, Taissa Farmiga, Harry Richardson, Blake Ritson, Thomas Cocquerel, Simon Jones, Jack Gilpin, Cynthia Nixon, Christine Baranski, Donna Murphy, Debra Monk Main Genre Drama Genres Drama Rating TV-MA Seasons 2 Creator Julian Fellowes Network HBO Max
COLLIDER: Your character’s return was one of the few things that they told us not to spoil in advance, but I wouldn’t have dreamed of it because I remember the reaction I had. In a show like this with such a big cast, where people are coming and going all the time, when did you find out Turner was coming back for Season 2?

KELLEY CURRAN: I was offered a contract a couple of months after Season 1, so I knew that she’d be back in some form, but I didn’t know how she would return. I didn’t know the style in which she would return until we were all sent the scripts for Season 2, Episode 2. So, I had the same sort of jaw-drop moment as I was reading the script [laughs]. I was like, “I don’t know when Turner is going to appear. I wonder how she’s gonna figure it out.” Then we got all the way to the end, and I was like, [gasp] “Oh my god. Here she is!” I didn’t know for a while, but then it became one of the hardest secrets I’ve ever had to keep because I’ve known about it for about two years. I’ve had to be as tight-lipped so as not to ruin the surprise.

Image via HBO

That answers my next question, which was your reaction to her coming back in this particular way. Obviously, there’s the drama of it, but also it’s just such a surprising place to find her in. Did you talk with Julian about the particulars of anything? No hints at all?

CURRAN: I didn’t talk to Julian about the particulars, but my instinct from the scripts of Season 1, about what motivates this woman, and why she makes the choices she makes—some of them which might be perceived as a poor choice—my instinct was that she has always felt like this is a world she should move in. For me, as an actor, I had to create a story that there was a time in her life when she thought she would move into this world, when she thought her class and her education would be enough of a resource to allow her to marry into this world, and then she would succeed in it. I think something happened in her personal life and her family life that thwarted those expectations and forced her into service instead of into society, and that’s where all of her resentment comes from. I knew from the first season that she felt she deserved to be a part of that world, which is why she always behaved like she had status even when she didn’t. [Laughs]

So, that laid some of that groundwork for me, but then the surprise of how quickly and how skilled she was at actually getting herself in once she was forced out of service when she was fired and she had to figure out how to survive, I think she knew the stakes were now or never. “I’m either going to marry into this world now at this age, at this moment, with whatever story I create for my background, or I’m going to be either in service or destitute for the rest of my life.” For her, the stakes couldn’t have been higher in the off-season, in the time between Season 1 and Season 2, so she just made them happen because, whether we like her or not, she’s got a lot of grit.

That ties into what I wanted to ask you about the appeal of playing a character like this — because she is shrewd, she’s ambitious, and, as you said, she’s got that grit and that determination. She always seems to be looking at the next possible step up the ladder. When you’re taking on a role like this – someone who is definitely more of an antagonist and has clashed with different characters – what are the traits that you latch on to when you’re trying to bring someone like this to life?

CURRAN: Well, I always think, “What would motivate this behavior? Why does Turner have such a scarcity mindset? What are her greatest fears that allow her fears to kind of rule her behavior and rule her life?” She’s so armored, and she’s so preemptively ready for conflict and ready for a fight, and I think it’s from having to survive. It’s from knowing that she has to take care of herself and she’s out there in the world alone without a partner who is a titan of industry, without all that stuff. For me, that’s where her humanity starts to seep in; that’s where all of her aggression and envy and resentment covers something that is much more human, but she would never let anyone else see that. That’s where the stakes of her lie, so that it’s not just about pettiness and “I just want to be rich,” and “I just want a seat at the best opera.” It’s so much more than that. It’s really a survival instinct, and it’s a need for security in a world that doesn’t offer a lot of security. To me, those were the main motivators and the way I got into, “Who is this person beyond an archetype villain?” This is a woman in a hard world, and you either go in one direction or the other. She’s a fighter.

Image via HBO

We see her in this new marriage, and she’s obviously achieved some status as a result. Do you feel like she still has her sights set on a bigger piece of the pie? With George Russell, it was always tough to tell if she was more interested in him because of his power and money. If she had the chance to ditch Mr. Winterton and be with George, would she take that? And maybe not even just because of the money?

CURRAN: I love that question so much. [Laughs] This is such a great question because I think so much of what she’s so thrilled about when we meet her in Season 2 is that she has finally achieved this level of security in her life, especially being attached to an old money family and old money husband. It’s something that Bertha will never have. That level of security is like the tonic for one of her greatest fears and one of her greatest motivators, so she’s definitely pleased with that. As the season goes on, we get to see little snippets of the interactions between her and her husband, and even if she’s not in love with this man, she has a lot of respect for him because he has moved through this world his whole life, and he knows a lot more than she does, and she is aware of that. I think she learns from him. I also think she’s being cared for by him, and that’s the first time she’s been cared for in a long time, so that is a powerful thing.

But I love the question because, for me as an actor, the most interesting dynamic choice in Season 1 was that Turner’s affections for George were sincere. I never talked about it with Julian or the director; they just let me play different things at different moments, and then they’d drop a piece of direction into my ear, or not. It was sort of my thing that I got to hold onto — that she’s living in this house with this capable, powerful, beautiful, devoted, loving man, and she witnesses his own wife taking that for granted a lot, and for Turner, that is all she really wants. Even if she thinks what she wants is status and power, what she really wants, and maybe what she really needs, is affection and love and security in a more intangible form. If George turned around and was like, “Hey, let’s do this,” [laughs] I’m not going to say she’d say no. It would be a journey because the humiliation was pretty complete in Season 1 in terms of his response to her, but I think she’s always going to have a little bit of a flame for him because, in some ways, she also sees how she would like to be in the world with him.

I wanted to ask you about her face-off with Bertha, as well. Turner has been playing this long game of getting herself into society, but do you feel like her ultimate goal is still to take Bertha down a peg in terms of playing that game? Or is facing off with Bertha just a convenient consequence of where she’s managed to work herself up to?

CURRAN: Turner’s ultimate goal would be to become Mrs. Astor. Mrs. Winterton would succeed Mrs Astor, and in that journey, it would just knock Bertha down a few pegs. That’s just a convenient side effect of becoming [laughs]. But I think the interesting tension in the show is that Bertha and Turner have the same end goal: they want to run this society. That’s where the conflict comes into play.

Image via HBO

I know you probably can’t say much, but what can you tease for people about how the rest of the season plays out for your character?

CURRAN: Bertha and Turner are both women with a lot of grit and a lot of determination, so they make excellent rivals. Buckle up for a nice season-long battle royale, because neither of them is about to give up any time soon, which is what actually makes them so fantastic to play.

It’s a lot of fun because we’re getting to see you and Carrie in a position where you’re on equal footing now. Turner is no longer Bertha’s subservient in any way, so she doesn’t have to take it if she doesn’t want to.

CURRAN: Yeah, absolutely. There’s this amazing, odd intimacy between them. They know things about each other that they would rather not the outside world know. There’s a strange tie between these two women that is never going to go away. They either have to figure out how they’re going to cut that off or how they’re going to live with it.

New episodes of The Gilded Age Season 2 premiere Sundays on HBO and Max.

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