Donna Murphy Teases ‘Surprising’ Season 2 Of ‘The Gilded Age’: ‘It’s A Deliciously Fun Experience’ (Exclusive)

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Image Credit: Jason Crowley/BFA

Donna Murphy is just as thrilled about the second season of The Gilded Age as the rest of us. HollywoodLife spoke EXCLUSIVELY with the Broadway icon about season 2 and who from the Broadway world she’d love to see show up in the series. (Note: This interview was conducted prior to the SAG strike.)

Donna Murphy at ‘The Miracle Club’ screening. (Jason Crowley/BFA)

“There was a lot of writing that was happening as we were filming the second season, so there was a lot that was surprising us as we were going through filming,” Donna told HollywoodLife at the Sony Pictures Classics and The Cinema Society’s screening of The Miracle Club on July 11, which took place at the Tribeca Screening Room and Ladurée Soho. “But they always tell us we’re not allowed to say a damn thing, which is so boring. But of course, I got to have some wonderful scenes with Miss Carrie Coon.”

Donna, who plays Caroline Astor, believes the second season of the show will premiere in September 2023. HBO has not announced an official premiere date yet. The first season was filled with so many Broadway stars like Donna, Audra McDonald, Kelli O’Hara, and more. There are a couple of other stage mega-stars Donna would like to see pop up in this period drama.

“Victor Garber. I’d like for him to be revealed as Mr. Astor. I think Bernadette Peters has to find her way into the show,” Donna said.

The 5-time Tony nominee calls The Gilded Age a “deliciously fun experience. I mean, it’s a long workday when you’re in the constrictions of that time period and wigs and wool and it’s 105 degrees in Troy, New York, and you’re acting as if it’s springtime, and you’re accustomed to wearing these corsets and such, but it’s a small price to pay to do something that’s such really magical storytelling.”

Donna Murphy as Caroline Astor in ‘The Gilded Age.’ (HBO)

Disney has been immersed in an era of live-action adaptations of their animated hits, and Tangled has come up time and time again. So, would she reprise her role as Mother Gothel if a Tangled live-action movie comes to fruition?

“Never say never,” the actress admitted. “It’s not something that when I initially heard about it I thought, ‘They better ask.’ But my choices about what I do work-wise have been very much connected to my parenting because I’m a single mom since my late husband passed away. My choices have to do with how I can be present both in my work and for my daughter. So you just never know and also, it’s like, what did I do last? I don’t want to do whatever I did last. I want to do something new and something that’s going to stretch me. I mean, I played Mother Gothel, but who the hell knows.”

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