Why We Should Be ‘Very Worried’ About That Shooting on <i>The Gilded Age</i>

Spoilers below.

Someone check on George Russell! Last night’s episode of The Gilded Age ended with a nail-biting cliffhanger when the railroad tycoon appeared to be shot in a surprise assassination attempt. A gunman posing as a messenger stepped into George’s office, where he was gathered with a few colleagues, with a “delivery for Mr. Russell.” He takes out a gun and shoots one of the men and then points the gun at George and fires. The bullet bursts out of the barrel in slow motion. The episode ends before we can see whether George was actually shot—and if he survives—but we do know the bullet was intended for him. Is there a chance the Russell patriarch miraculously makes it out alive?

Morgan Spector, who stars as George on the HBO series, says don’t get your hopes up.

“You should be very worried,” he told Variety. “In the 19th century, gunshot wounds from up close were extremely dangerous. Many people didn’t survive them. I don’t have a contract for next season yet, so who knows?”

Of course, there’s a chance he could be bluffing, so we’ll have to wait until the finale next Sunday to find out about George’s fate.

Despite the tragic turn of events, Spector said he was excited to portray this shocking storyline in the show. When he read the scripts, he told Variety, “I was just thrilled, because it’s such a left turn for our show. It’s totally historically accurate—this kind of thing happened during that era. But it doesn’t feel like The Gilded Age.”

Spector added that he sees parallels between the show and the present day. He first read the shooting scene in scripts shortly after a real-life high profile shooting took place in present day: when Luigi Mangione allegedly assassinated the CEO of United Healthcare, Brian Thompson, in New York City.

“I was like, [The Gilded Age creator] Julian Fellowes is clairvoyant,” he added in his interview with Variety. “It redoubled my sense that there’s a way that this show, however subtly, however quietly, is really in dialogue with our current moment, simply by virtue of there being structural similarities between the two eras. Both of these time periods have massive wealth and massive inequality. Both of them are characterized by industrial titans, who are kind of swinging the state around by its tail. The consequences of that can be violence.”

The actor was likely referring to George’s scheme to expand his railroad business. After his son, Larry, finds valuable copper mines on their land in Arizona, George has enough funds to gain control of the Illinois Central Line. He doesn’t do this humbly. At the business meeting where he announces this acquisition, he scolds his former secretary, Clay, for overlooking the copper mines and for working with the enemy. Clay’s new boss, who is also turned off by his oversight, fires him. Clay then warns George that he’s like a cockroach—he won’t get rid of him easily. So in the wake of the shooting, Clay sure seems like he may have organized the hit, but we won’t know for sure until the finale airs. After all, someone as powerful as George Russell might have a lot of people who want to see him dead.

When asked by Variety whether George’s ambition was also the cause for his “undoing” this season, Spector said yes.

“His by-any-means-necessary drive has succeeded so many times, but that formula isn’t always going to work,” Spector said. “He probably should have paused on the railroad expansion, but I also think he was distracted. His marriage is not going well. His relationship with his daughter is not going well. He’s kind of a mess in this episode. He’s wagered more than he should have. There’s a lot of internal disappointment at the way he’s failed Gladys. There’s a lot of internal disappointment over his own stupidity in terms of risking more than they have.”

There are layers of tragic irony that make George’s possible death even more heartbreaking. He and his wife, Bertha (Carrie Coon), didn’t leave things on good terms after he pushed her away and blamed her for meddling with their son’s marriage plans (even though she didn’t.) Plus, his daughter Gladys (Taissa Farmiga), who married an English duke against her will, is headed back to the states with her husband to reunite with the family in Newport. How will they and Larry (Harry Richardson) react when they learn what’s happened to George? The answer lies in next week’s must-watch finale.