Spoilers ahead for The Gilded Age season three, episode six, “If You Want to Cook an Omelette.”
When Ben Ahlers first read the script for tonight’s episode of The Gilded Age, he cried—and had flashbacks to when he left his hometown in Fort Dodge, Iowa.
“That internal conflict of loving my hometown in Iowa, loving my family—they gave me everything, just as Jack’s found family gave him everything, including money to buy his patents,” Ahlers tells Town & Country. But, he adds, “I can really connect with this itch of curiosity and discovery and to just jump into the unknown.”
Ahlers continues, Jack is “such a sweet, sweet boy. I cried when I read it because especially at that time—he lost his mother in the Peshtigo fire—with really no safety net beyond that house, to take that risk and cross that threshold, I could really understand that fear. I was very fortunate to move to New York with a few friends, to know that I had a couch that I could crash on if need be, but I was also so proud of him. He understands, and I think Ada really lands that note to him, where she says, ‘It wouldn’t be false for you to stay here, but it just wouldn’t feel right somehow.’ Sometimes you need a motherly figure to just push you out of the nest.”
Karolina Wojtasik/HBO
Jack in episode six of The Gilded Age.
The actor, who also recently starred in The Last of Us and John Wilkes Booth: One Night Only!—a play that premiered in Baltimore and will transfer to New York City this autumn—feels “cosmically connected” to Jack. He began playing Jack on The Gilded Age when he was 23, and now, at 28, “I feel like he’s teaching me.” The character has taught him, he says, to “stay as present and grateful with what you have—and allow yourself to want more and work hard toward that end.”
Ahlers spoke with Town & Country about Jack’s big exit, the reception to The Gilded Age season three, and what he hopes is next for his character.
Let’s dive right in to tonight’s episode. Do you think Jack would’ve left without Ada telling him to leave, or do you think he needed that nudge?
I think his ideal world was to make $300,000 after the split, and just keep hanging out and maybe take Bridget out a couple more dates if she ever came around and maybe start buying organic for the kitchen staff. He was very content with where he was. That’s what’s also so nice about Jack, and his [attitude] is something I try to implement in my life: The wanting is great, the desire is great, you should forge ahead, and there’s no reason that right now can’t also be everything that you want as well. That those two things are not mutually exclusive. He’s been a really great mentor in that way.
Do you think he feels guilty about his success?
Totally. First of all, even though he alludes in the previous seasons to this excitement about the changing nature of America, and at that time it was the first society in the world where you could elevate beyond your station and go pursue something. He’s always had that itch, but he just wanted to make sure that he didn’t oversleep his alarm so he could go serve morning tea. He’s just a little clock nerd! I think it did, as the best adventures in life do, just spiral into something beyond anything that he was expecting. There certainly was this sense of, “Well, why me?”
I don’t think he sees himself as anything more special than the people that he grew up with. And especially to leave Bridget back there. I always sense that in the room in a really beautiful way. Taylor Richardson [who plays Bridget] is just exquisite, and I think Jack really does care for Bridget. So every time there was this moment of exciting opportunity, we could cut to Bridget and we would see how proud and excited she was for him. I don’t think he wants that story to end either. So yeah, it was very complicated.
The Gilded Age is “the most profound artistic experience in my life.”What was filming that goodbye scene like for you?
This project, these people have been the best possible version of what it means to make a TV show, where when I had to say goodbye to Simon Jones, Deborah Monk, Christine Nielsen, and Taylor Richardson, there was no work involved. We’ve spent five years together. We were forged in the pandemic with no one else to see. Whatever that first bubble was for you, that family that held you together…. And now we’re all back to our normal lives, and the show is being so well received, the change is palpable on set. We got the Emmy nomination a week into filming season three, and we all beautifully floored by that. So getting to look at 28-year-old Ben saying goodbye to these people who were a part of the most profound artistic experience in my life, all I had to do was listen and respond.
When viewers found out Jack made $300,000 many—including myself!—immediately Googled “what is $300k worth today?” In today’s world, Jack would be a multi-millionaire. What do you make of his newfound wealth?
I have a few friends in the tech space who fall under that bucket and how hyper-developed certain people are to be able to achieve in a certain realm. But then, how there’s an equal and opposite reaction to that. I’m anxiously awaiting what happens to him. I knock wood about a season four. We’ll see; that’s above my pay grade.
Jack has a really great opportunity as that mirror about how to still operate within our world; I think a lot of young people are struggling with this: What am I doing this for? What am I participating in? Can I achieve success and feel good about it and carve out a life for myself, and can I do it in a way that feels aligned with my values and still moral and still kind to other people? Jack will have some decisions to make.
Karolina Wojtasik/HBO
Jack “kept me young, but fortunately, as you see, this season is his coming of age. It was nice to start to blend that coming of age within myself into the role,” Ahlers says.
Do you think he’s going to successfully make the transition from downstairs to upstairs?
I don’t know. He’s going to have to make friends. I mean, this show obviously unpacks it, but I don’t think America recognizes its class distinctions today—there’s still matchmaking happening. There are still fathers who, when their daughter goes and meets somebody in downtown New York and they go out to the Hamptons, they’re temperature checking where he is at. So, I think it’s going to be really difficult [for Jack] because he has the money, but he’s going to have to learn a lot, and I don’t know if he necessarily wants—my intuition is that he doesn’t necessarily want to have a house up in Newport. I don’t think he wants to. He’s been pouring tea around these conversations in the Brook house drawing room for so many years, and as much as it’s interesting, I don’t really know if that’s his bag. So I’m curious as to, with this wealth, what life he’s able to carve out for himself because he is definitely going to be a fish out of water, and that’s not irrelevant to a good life, and so he might just be coming back and having Thursday dinners with Mrs. Bauer. We’ll see.
Are there any characters he hasn’t crossed paths with yet that you hope he does now?
I would love for Larry to bring him by the Russell House just so I can work with Carrie [Coon] and Morgan [Spector]. I think the world of them as actors and largely everybody else, they come through the Brook House at least once over the last few seasons, and so I’ve gotten to spend time in the green room and watch people work, but the Russell House still feels like a mystery to me, and if there was some potential business dealing or maybe I get to finally go up to Newport and cause some trouble with Larry, it’d be fun to get into their world a little bit. They’re great people.
Karolina Wojtasik/HBO
“Larry really respected Jack and gave him the confidence he needed to take over that meeting when Larry didn’t know what the hell he was saying. It like it could turn into kind of a brotherly thing,” Ahlers says of Larry and Jack’s friendship-slash-business partnership.
How has it been starring on a period drama that feels so relevant to our day and age?
It’s not a new thought to say that the parallels between the 1880s and now are terrifying and striking. To have [Jack] as a guiding light as someone who’s lived it before was really needed, especially in the pandemic, when we had no idea what the world would ever look like again. Just to be around this fun, loving, hardworking light at the end of the tunnel—he keeps me sane in that way.
Being able to look at this alternate world, this little snow globe snapshot of something that’s really not long ago, feels really vital. The show is never really telling us anything specifically about how to feel, or what is right or wrong. In that way, I actually think it’s more subversive; it is this very blank canvas, this very clear mirror for people to be implicated in. It’s very on the pulse; it feels cool to be engaged in the culture.
As an actor, how have you felt about the reaction online to “clock boy”?
All I’ll say about that is Evan Ross Katz changed my life, and that’s also not a unique thought. It’s been wonderful, especially in New York. This is such a New York show. I saw Death Becomes Her [on Broadway] last night, and there’s a lot of overlap between those audiences. To be accepted by the community has been really, really loving and fruitful and just so much fun. I know Morgan is called “railroad daddy” on Instagram, and I’ve got the “clock twink” thing…in the culture right now, it’s so hard for a TV show to pop through. They cut through the noise in such unique ways, and so if that’s somehow an indication that we’ve got some traction, it’s a win on a lot of levels.
I do feel like it is getting rarer for there to be a show everyone’s watching and discussing.
Coming from the theater, I really miss that sort of engagement with the audience. You’re there for the transmission; I either get the laugh or I don’t. With TV and film stuff, oftentimes, other than the premiere, you’re just in your apartment watching the show and you don’t really know what the feedbacks looks like. Online is so confusing because it’s hard to make sense of how many people are involved, but to actually be on the street or in a Broadway theater and see a mom and her daughter saying, “We just watched the show last night,” it grounds it. It makes it actually feel like we’re connecting with people, and so it’s so fun. It’s a New York show popping off in New York in the summer! It’s all so vibrant and chaotic.
Do you remember the first time you got recognized in the city for The Gilded Age?
I went to a Knicks game, and this bald, mid-50s Long Island dad came up to me and he goes, “I’m keeping my eye on you.” He goes, “You’re the American Dream. Jack’s the American Dream. My wife made me watch the show and it took me a second, but then I got hooked.” That happens more than I think people would realize: The dad lingering in the background, poking his head over to watch.
ALAN PADILLA
Ahlers is photographed by Alan Padilla. Groomer: George Kyriakos. Stylist: Donte McGuine. Wearing Paul Smith jacket and pants, and Berluti boots.
What can you tease about the rest of the season?
Jack’s going to be left with some real decisions about how he wants to operate with this newfound freedom, and I would say. Based off of what I think what we all know about him is that he likes to keep himself busy, and he got into this, again, not for the money, but for the engagement of solving a problem. The name Jack is not irrelevant—it’s like a jackknife. It’s a jack of all trades. You can’t go from working from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. every day and then just go sit around and be rich in your house. He’s going to definitely want to get himself busy and I think he’s gotten an itch for the patent game, so I’m eager to see what he cooks up next.
The Gilded Age is now streaming on HBO Max. Watch now
Emily Burack (she/her) is the Senior News Editor for Town & Country, where she covers entertainment, celebrities, the royals, and a wide range of other topics. Before joining T&C, she was the deputy managing editor at Hey Alma, a Jewish culture site. Follow her @emburack on Twitter and Instagram.