SPOILER ALERT: This interview contains spoilers for the Season 3 finale of “The Gilded Age,” now streaming on HBO Max.
Now that HBO’s “The Gilded Age” has steamrolled audiences with a grand third season finale, we’re left mitigating the fallout of marriages and social alliances (all while trying to define the word “geegaws“). But there’s a clear winner in this year’s turn-of-the-century New York rat race created by Julian Fellowes: Jack Trotter.
Played with confident sweetness by actor Ben Ahlers, Jack has been a beloved “downstairs” member of the cast since day one — a footman brimming with American ingenuity, who creates the world’s first alarm clock and gets rich in the process. But Ahlers’ Jack is not content to become a nouveau riche nightmare, having spent the bulk of recent episodes dragging his feet about leaving the home and his employers, Agnes and Ada (Christine Baranski and Cynthia Nixon), whom he’s known for so long.
Variety caught Ahlers by phone, during an East Coast road trip with his significant other, where he discussed Jack’s embracing of his new station in life, finding absurd joy in success and the nickname — — “Clock Twink” — he’s been given by the internet.
How are you?
I’m driving back to New York from Margate, New Jersey, with my girlfriend Michaela. I had my first Wawa hoagie.
Are you changed for good?
Jalen Brunson, the point guard for the Knicks, gave his favorite order from Wawa on his podcast. I’m a diehard Knicks fan, so I got exactly what he got. It’s a shorty — that’s a white bread roll — with oven roasted turkey, honey mustard, chipotle, provolone, banana peppers and sweet peppers. It was breathtaking.
It’s incredible to see “The Gilded Age” continue to expand its viewership. It feels like a tonic for troubled times. It’s also fun to get caught up in low-stakes drama. People were breathless last year over a plot to compromise a soup course at a dinner party.
Those subtleties are still able to hook us some somehow. I was actually holding my breath when that that rogue footman was delivering the bad soup. It’s like a warm cup of tea when most of our art seems to be so confronting and provocative. It’s also a testament to Julian Fellowes.
What makes Jack interesting is that he seems to have these very early leanings toward middle-class desire. The show is set in 1882, and he stumbles on this fortune but doesn’t seem to want to live the grand life expected of him now.
The high society is absolutely absurd. It’s hard to watch these people come in with their hats and first- world problems and not take the piss out of them a bit. For the downstairs people, there’s a bonding force in a group that live very mundane lives on a strict routine, catering to others. You have to find that playfulness somewhere. Levity comes very easy to Jack, because the times are pretty dark.
At the end of this season, we see Jack succumb to the good life but his story doesn’t feel finished. He doesn’t want to stop inventing. It feels representative of an American spirit gone by – or at least not present at the moment. He doesn’t want to make a billion dollar app and have a tacky wedding in Venice.
Yeah, whoever he ends up with, they won’t be married in Italy with the Kardashians. I remember Jack saying to Larry, after they sell the clock, that he thought he’d be working on this his entire life. He’s got a blank slate now, and that’s both scary and exciting. I’m anxiously awaiting how that that plays out.
You make an interesting point about high society. You’re an Iowa boy who now sitting front row at global fashion week runway shows. How do you feel about some of the rooms you walk into now?
There’s a part of me that wants to continue to be a student of people. I have a lot to learn in a lot of these rooms, so it’s easy to walk into them with curiosity. Life has kind of manifested beyond my wildest dreams, so I’m humbled and grounded because there’s a lot more I want to accomplish. I’m working on this movie [“Little Brother”] right now with John Cena and Eric André that’s a complete left turn from the thing that I’ve done. I just visited WWE on Sunday, and I’m learning John’s history and his work ethic. There’s endless room for improvement and understanding. On the other hand, it all feels like theater and improv. Sometimes I watch people who have been famous since they were 20 try to act like normal people, and that’s really fun. And the fashion week stuff – I go to these shows and look around like, “None of us are aware of how terrifically ridiculous all of this.” We’d have a lot more fun if we were in on the bit.
I imagine WWE looks just like a scene from “The Gilded Age.”
100%. It’s all pageantry. The costumes are insane, the audience is obsessed with it. I was fully hooked when I sat through WWE, just as invested as I was when Christine Baranski showed up to Cynthia Nixon’s wedding on our show.
It’s got to be intimidating to work with Christine Baranski.
She’s the best, hands down. And she’s so grateful, and still has this Buffalo, New York sense of humor. She likes to have a good time, and she brings great discipline to the work in a way that’s informative and inspiring. She’s effortless.
Do you remember your first scene with her?
We had never met, and we were about to head to set one day and she was walking out of her dressing room and we crossed paths in the hallway. She looked me up and down and said, “Boy, we are getting our money’s worth with you.” I can die happy now.
Tell me about finding Jack’s New York accent, especially in a turn-of-the-century dialect.
Howard Samuelson is our dialect coach, and he’s been so just vital in orchestrating how everyone sounds. He was pulling audio recordings from radio plays in the ’20s and ‘30s. It’s venturing into that transatlantic Jimmy Cagney territory. Fortunately, I’ve been a pretty good mimic because of my musical theater background.
“The Gilded Age” has a rabid social media fandom, so I need to ask you about the nickname they’ve given you: “Clock Twink.”
Listen, I’m a theater kid. I studied musical theater in Michigan, so I feel so loved by my community. If I’m in the same conversation as “Railroad Daddy,” I welcome it completely.
Michaela, what do you think?
Michaela: No complaints. 10 out of 10.
This interview has been edited and condensed.
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