Carrie Coon has been buying neck rests for her The Gilded Age costars, whose elaborate wigs and hats complicate an ordinary break between scenes.
“So fantastic,” Cynthia Nixon said at PaleyFest New York on Oct. 13, according to PEOPLE. Coon added that bustles make lying down difficult, too.
Coon demonstrated a CranioCradle for TMZ at Los Angeles International Airport on Oct. 16.
The actress, 45, plays Bertha Russell, a railroad magnate’s wife fighting for a place among New York’s established elite. Julian Fellowes’ HBO drama sets that social competition in the 1880s.
The Foam Cradle Leaves Room for a Hat’s Feathers
In a 2025 Town & Country video, Coon explained that the production’s hour-long lunch break offered a chance to rest, provided she could find somewhere to put her head. She demonstrated how the support lets her lie on the floor with the hat and feathers extending behind her rather than being crushed underneath.
The manufacturer lists the device at five ounces and approximately 4 by 3 by 6 inches. Its body is made from compressible polyurethane foam, and the company describes it as portable enough for use at home, at work or while traveling.
Her Wig Sometimes Carries a Microphone Pack, Too
Microphone packs were sometimes hidden inside her wigs and hats, Coon recalled in a June 2024 interview with AwardsWatch. She told the crew that her neck “cannot support any more weight because I’m wearing a giant wig and a giant hat.”
Among her memorable headpieces was the Easter bonnet worn for the second season’s parade sequence. She also defended a different hat whose feathers looked like turkey legs on camera, insisting they were beautiful in person.
In a June 2025 interview with the same outlet, she described the wig and high heels as particularly difficult over a 16-hour day. The corset, by comparison, was something she said she adjusted to after a couple of weeks.
Coon and Her Dresser Time Their Costume Changes
Bertha’s wardrobe includes dresses from every dressmaker the production uses, unlike characters whose clothes are assigned to just one, Coon explained in the Town & Country video. The weight and construction vary from outfit to outfit. Her dresser, Amber, helps her into the many hooks, eyes and buttons, but Coon corrected suggestions that the production used zippers to speed things up.
The two time their changes so Coon knows how much of a break she can spend outside the corset, she told PEOPLE in 2024. Makeup artist Nicki Ledermann also carefully works on her eyebrows so they match the wig.
Coon recalled in the Town & Country conversation that she was eight months pregnant when the first season finished filming. Colleagues including Christine Baranski and Kelli O’Hara shared stories of performing onstage while pregnant, from singing and dancing to making quick changes backstage. She said the ensemble rarely works together on ordinary filming days, making big group scenes feel like “theater camp.”
Coon told AwardsWatch she was back on The Gilded Age set 48 hours after landing from Thailand, where she had filmed The White Lotus. Her new costumes were not ready, so the production began with bedroom scenes that let her work in pajamas and robes for the first few days. She also asked for extra takes while trying to recover Bertha’s speech and movement after switching shows.
Some Early Hat Designs Wouldn’t Fit Through Doorways
Costume designer Kasia Walicka-Maimone encountered a practical limit when her team made mockups based on historical Easter hats. Some were so large that actors could not get through doorways, she told the Television Academy in 2023.
Her process begins with watercolor sketches, followed by construction by costume makers in New York, Los Angeles and Europe. The team includes tailors, hat makers and fabric specialists; the first season alone featured more than 5,000 costumes.
For Bertha’s household, Walicka-Maimone studied vintage fashion magazines and Paris couture archives. Agnes van Rhijn, played by Baranski, gets a more conservative wardrobe, including a larger bustle reflecting the fashions she preferred years earlier.
Coon told Vogue that she has become less reliant on intellectual preparation as she has grown older, allowing clothes and wigs to shape a performance from the outside. “It’s like dress-up, right? It’s the best part of the job,” she said.
The Gilded Age Returns for Season Four on Nov. 1
“She’s lost her safe place for intimacy. She’s lost touch with George,” Coon told The Knockturnal at PaleyFest, discussing Bertha’s relationship with the husband played by Morgan Spector. She said the character would turn more of her attention toward her home.
The new episodes also follow Agnes trying to regain her position, Marian Brook forging a different path and Peggy Scott seeking acceptance from her future in-laws. Jim Gaffigan and Neal Huff are among the performers joining the ensemble, according to HBO’s season announcement, published by BroadwayWorld.
The eight-episode fourth season premieres Sunday, Nov. 1, at 9 p.m. ET/PT on HBO and will stream on HBO Max.