It wasn’t exactly a crystal-ball prediction, but more of a direct warning: Carrie Coon, ever the fierce defender of her character Bertha Russell, said on the official Gilded Age podcast that fans — especially those rooting for Marian and Larry (aka “Larrian”) — are going to turn against Bertha this season.

“I won’t let him marry the way he wants,” Carrie said, half-joking — but also half-serious.

This week’s episode of the official podcast features Carrie and Morgan Spector (George Russell) discussing and defending their characters’ choices. Carrie is unapologetically in favor of everything Bertha has been doing — including pressuring her daughter Gladys into a loveless marriage with the Duke of Buckingham.

Morgan added his own perspective on the drama unfolding in episode two:

“The choice that he’d have to make is really to say to Bertha, in order to protect Gladys,’no, you don’t get to have what you want.

This guy goes back to England, and that’s the end of it.’ But he’s not going to do that. Because he knows if he says no to Bertha, she might break the pact between them.”

For Carrie, Bertha acts practically within the constraints placed on women at the time. When she fights with her daughter, it’s because — in Carrie’s words — “she sees Gladys’s potential,” something the young woman doesn’t yet see in herself.

But things are different when it comes to Marian.

That trailer moment where Marian tells Gladys, “Anyone who marries me will have to do it for love,” was a clear warning: heartbreak is coming. Bertha will be firmly against Larry and Marian’s relationship — even if she hasn’t quite realized what’s going on between them.

During the interview, Carrie and Morgan laugh about how perfect Larry is:

“Our little golden boy, Larry, will just swoop in and fix everything when it goes wrong,” Carrie jokes.
“He never fails. And yet I won’t let him marry the way he wants,” she adds — laughing, but dead serious.

The drama is officially confirmed.
So now what? Will Marian, unlike Gladys, stand her ground and fight for her love for Larry?