'The Gilded Age's Surprise Character Return Answers Last Season's Biggest Mystery

Editor’s note: The below contains spoilers for The Gilded Age Season 4 Episode 2.

The Gilded Age has a full ensemble cast between the established families, social climbers, and staff who keep the houses running. Over the seasons, several characters have moved on from the story, like Mr. Raikes (Thomas Cocquerel), whose romance with Marian (Louisa Jacobson) ultimately wasn’t meant to last, or Ward McAllister (Nathan Lane), who was exiled from society. Though co-creators Julian Fellowes and Sonja Warfield wrote these characters off, they remain memorable parts of the show. However, their absence doesn’t mean they can never return, and Season 4’s latest twist proves that.

Season 4 isn’t the first time The Gilded Age has brought back an unexpected character. Enid (Kelley Curran) was fired from the Russells’ house in Season 1, but has since returned to become a key figure in New York high society. Season 4’s latest episode, however, serves as an answer to the biggest outstanding question from Season 3. In a shocking twist, Mrs. Morris (Katie Finneran), a socialite who had an important role in Season 1, returns to The Gilded Age as part of the story’s darkest storyline.

‘The Gilded Age’ Season 4 Reveals Who Shot George Russell

Two episodes into Season 4, The Gilded Age is still navigating the fallout from Season 3’s finale. George Russell (Morgan Spector) went through a lot in Season 3, but by far the most shocking twist occurred in the penultimate episode, when George and his associates are shot in his office. Luckily, he survived thanks to Dr. Kirkland’s (Jordan Donica) medical intervention, but despite George’s own suspicions, no one knows who plotted against him. George has made more than a few enemies in his rise to the top, but the identity of his attacker has remained unknown until Season 4’s latest episode.

While keeping the extent of his injury quiet, George launches his own investigation, which, months later, finally uncovers the man responsible. The hired Pinkertons locate a suspect, Will Morris (Will Pullen), whose reaction to George’s presence confirms his guilt. Despite his mother’s protests, the Pinkertons take Will into custody. For her part, Mrs. Morris goes to Bertha (Carrie Coon) to plead for her son’s life, though there is no goodwill between them. Ultimately, George spares Will’s life, though he threatens to do worse if the young man returns to New York. While the Morris family’s return is a surprise, it answers the biggest looming question from Season 3, giving George a chance to move on from the incident despite his erratic behavior.

‘The Gilded Age’ Season 4’s Reveal Ties Back to Season 1

• Image via HBO

• Image via HBO

• Image via The Gilded Age

• Image via HBO

• Image via HBO

• Image via HBO

• Image via HBO

• Image via The Gilded Age

• Image via HBO

• Image via HBO

Though Will himself never appeared in previous seasons of The Gilded Age, his parents played a major role in Season 1. When the Russells first come to New York, Mrs. Morris is one of the women blocking Bertha from society, while Mr. Morris (Michel Gill) and George get caught up in a contentious deal. When George comes out on top, it bankrupts Mr. Morris, who dies by suicide in the fallout. Will’s enmity for George ties back to this storyline, explaining his motivation for the attempted murder. Mrs. Morris’ reappearance in Season 4 is a surprise, but the storyline gives the family a sense of finality, especially as they seemed to disappear after Season 1.

Britain makes more detective television than any country has any
business making, and somehow almost all of it is good. Here is the one you belong in, what it says
about you, and the case for it being the best of the four.

You want the tea, the gossip and the vicar behaving oddly.
Midsomer is a county where the scenery is beautiful, the fete is on Saturday and the murder
rate is roughly that of a small war, and absolutely nobody involved thinks this is strange.

• You are sociable, curious and the first to notice that somebody has changed their
  routine.
• It has been running since 1997 and sells to well over two hundred territories worldwide.
• John Nettles handed over to Neil Dudgeon in 2011 and the show did not miss a step.
• Your flaw is that the line between caring about people and enjoying the gossip is
  thinner than you admit.

You feel other people’s grief as if it were handed to you
personally. Broadchurch is less a whodunnit than a study of what a small town does to itself
when it finds out that the answer was always going to be somebody everybody already knew.

• You are the one people tell the truth to, and you carry all of it afterwards.
• Olivia Colman won the BAFTA for Best Actress for the first series and David Tennant has
  never been better.
• Chris Chibnall wrote it before taking over Doctor Who, and took Jodie Whittaker with
  him.
• Your risk is absorbing so much of other people’s pain that nobody notices yours.

You go through things rather than around them. John Luther is the
best detective in London and a liability to everybody who works with him, and the show is
completely honest that those two facts are the same fact.

• You are the one people call when the normal approach has already failed.
• Idris Elba won a Golden Globe for it in 2012 and it made him a film star more or less
  overnight.
• Luther: The Fallen Sun arrived on Netflix in 2023 and took the character properly
  cinematic.
• Your weakness is that doing the right thing your way still leaves a mess for somebody
  else.

You say the thing and you do not dress it up. Vera Stanhope turns
up in a hat and a mac, is rude to almost everybody, and is the only person in the room
prepared to ask the question that the family has been waiting years for somebody to ask.

• You have no patience for performance, and the people who like you really like you.
• Brenda Blethyn played her for fourteen series before stepping away, and ITV ended the
  show rather than recast.
• Ann Cleeves wrote the novels, and also wrote the books behind Shetland, which is the
  same trick in a colder place.
• Your flaw is that blunt and kind can be the same thing, but only if people already know
  you.

The Morris family’s return works because, when George is shot, neither the audience nor the characters connect the two events. In fact, The Gilded Age had other options for who could be at fault. George has no shortage of enemies, and in Season 3 alone, his ambitious plan angers several railroad owners. He also falls out with Clay (Patrick Page), his former right-hand man, who initially becomes the Russells’ primary suspect. Yet The Gilded Age doesn’t follow the most expected story, and isn’t even bringing Clay back for Season 4. Despite the shock, Will’s role is logical, connecting two of The Gilded Age‘s darkest storylines, with George’s shooting being a result of Morris’ tragic suicide.

The Gilded Age Season 4 is streaming on HBO Max with new episodes on Sundays.

The Gilded Age