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HBO Premiere Has Shocking Blink-and-You’ll-Miss-It Cameo

No, your eyes are not deceiving you. WARNING: Spoilers for “The Gilded Age” Season 4 premiere below.

The Gilded Age’s Season 4 premiere has many delicious twists and turns. But the most surprising development is one you might not have even noticed.

Amid the joyful wedding festivities, traumatic labor scenes, and a long-overdue hookup, the two unnamed men crossing from one side of 61st Street to the other might make you do a double-take. No, your eyes aren’t deceiving you.

Yes, that really is David Letterman and Matt Damon decked out like 19th-century gentlemen in their finery.

Now, of all the many unexpected events across four seasons of Julian Fellowes’ glitzy HBO period drama, this double cameo is not quite as shocking as the runaway carriage that killed John Adams, the attempt on George Russell’s (Morgan Spector) life, or even an alarm clock invention storyline that became an audience obsession.

Still, this twosome ranks among the most confounding—albeit super stylish—moments because there isn’t an obvious connection between The Gilded Age and the former late-night talk show host and one of the world’s biggest movie stars. Why are they here?

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Letterman and Damon appear early on, right after a harrowing interaction in which Gladys Russell’s (Taissa Farmiga) life hangs in the balance in England, and her husband is asked to make a crucial choice. Gladys is in labor, and the baby is in the breech position.

The doctor asks Hector, Duke of Buckingham (Ben Lamb), who he should prioritize saving: Gladys or the baby? Hector tells the physician to try to save both, but if it comes to it, his wife comes first. Fellowes is no stranger to killing off characters on a palatial English estate, as Downton Abbey proved, increasing the tension of this already fraught sequence.

Cutting back to Manhattan, the camera focuses on the two well-attired men crossing the street in a way that makes them seem important or as if they will appear in the next scene, so make note. Have they just come from Oscar van Rhijn’s (Blake Ritson) wedding reception? They are not heading toward the Russell mansion, so it is unlikely they have anything to do with George’s latest meltdown about business matters not going his way.

Given what is going on in England with Gladys, you will be forgiven for missing the uncredited A-list cameo during what seemed like a simple transition. Plus, it is truly a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it moment. Even if you are paying attention, you might not recognize the man with the bushy white beard and his impressive mustachioed companion, because they don’t exactly scream The Gilded Age.

Or, if you do catch the resemblance, you may think you have hallucinated this curious pairing. There is no reason to make this connection, as the only famous people who show up are dramatized figures from this era, like Oscar Wilde and John Singer Sargent.

In terms of casting, The Gilded Age typically favors a deep bench of stage actors, but Damon has said he still wants to make his Broadway debut. Perhaps this is his way in.

There is no obvious explanation as to how they ended up in Bertha Russell’s (Carrie Coon) New York, so we are left to speculate. Now, my number one theory is this was some sort of auction prize at a charity fundraiser. But why this duo?

Their only apparent link is that Damon will appear in Season 7 of Letterman’s Netflix intimate talk show My Next Guest Needs No Introduction with David Letterman, scheduled for an unspecified date at the end of this year. Perhaps this is a rare Netflix-HBO Max crossover event.

Other projects don’t throw up any obvious links. Damon is not getting decked out in fancy period tailoring as a favor to an Odyssey co-star. Nor does this resemble a stealth campaign to curry favor with Academy voters who are big fans of the Gilded Age. Sure, his walk looks authentic, and he is pulling off the top hat, sideburns, and ‘tache, but he also doesn’t have any lines.

Digging further back, I found some interviews with Damon in which he discusses his wife Luciana Barroso’s love of Downton Abbey. One was during a 2014 appearance on The Graham Norton Show while promoting The Monuments Men with co-star Hugh Bonneville (who played Downton Abbey’s Robert Crawley, Earl of Grantham), in which he mentioned Barroso’s binging habits.

In another interview during this same press tour, Damon said he would happily guest-star on the British period drama if asked. While that never came to pass, this Gilded Age appearance could scratch that itch without committing to a whole episode (or season).

While clocking the pair when rewatching the premiere, I wondered if they would pop up again like a less stripy Where’s Waldo. Sadly, neither Damon nor Letterman show up at the wedding after-party at Webster Hall to dance the night away with Marion (Louisa Jacobson) and Larry (Harry Richardson). Nor are they at the hotel where Marion and Larry end up due to the raging storm—where they then fall into bed.

They also aren’t hanging out on 61st Street when Marion arrives home the following morning, still wearing the same gown from the night before. For Marion, this is definitely a walk of shame when it should actually be a stride of pride (thank you, Liz Lemon). They are also not working with the Pinkertons, hot on the heels of the man who shot George last season.

This is no odyssey across Manhattan; there is no runaway horse or showdown with George. Instead, The Gilded Age has shown its capacity to surprise, even when crossing the street after a rainstorm without incident. All you need is the right dapper double act to pull this off.

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Emma Fraser

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