It has been virtually a yr since Morgan Spector despatched The Gilded Age followers into a tizzy when he declared throughout a roundtable that he identifies as a backside, creatively. However in a new interview, he clarified he is extra of a “service high.”

The actor — affectionately often known as “Railroad Daddy” due to his portrayal of a railroad tycoon who guidelines Nineteenth-century New York Metropolis — went viral final July for his eye-opening remark whereas on a Los Angeles Times Drama Talk roundtable with actors Amy Ryan, Carrie Preston, Maya Erskine, Jess Hong, and Giancarlo Esposito.

When requested if he is ever given the writers room recommendations to flesh out his character, George Russell, Spector mentioned, “I actually am the type of actor who likes to point out up and simply do what I am informed. I am very a lot creatively type of a backside, so not likely. I feel that is type of what I am in it for. ‘Please inform me what to do and simply let me obey.’”

Unsurprisingly, Spector’s remark made the rounds on social media because of influencers like Evan Ross Katz, who posted a screenshot of the second on his Instagram account. “To cite Samantha Jones: ‘Good day, 911? I’m on hearth!’” Katz aptly captioned the publish on the time.

In a latest interview with GQ Hype, Spector clarified his remark, asserting that whereas calling himself a backside was a joke, the that means behind his assertion applies.

“I like with the ability to use my instinct and my intelligence to plug into any person else’s concepts, be taught their language, be taught their method of speaking, determine what the factor is that they are making an attempt to make, after which ship that,” he defined.

After which, with a chortle, he mentioned, “I suppose it is extra of being a service high, creatively, than being a backside.”

Clearly, Spector likes to make Dad(dy) jokes.

Regardless of the actor’s levity, he confronted accusations of queerbaiting after the remark went viral since Spector is not queer and has been married to actress Rebecca Corridor since 2015.

Though Spector understood the criticism, he questioned, “Straight guys cannot backside?”

“I imply, individuals can play with dominance and submission in heterosexual relationships,” he continued. “We’re residing in a second now the place we’re exploding concepts of gender. We deconstruct, these items usually are not mounted…. It is theater, child. We’re all taking part in in the identical sandbox in a sure method.”

Viewers of the Gilded Age may actually attest to Spector having no hassle with a man submitting to the will of their companions in heterosexual relationships. His and costar Carrie Coon’s onscreen marriage proves that energy dynamics might be extremely fluid it doesn’t matter what the last decade.

When talking with Leisure Weekly in 2022, Spector gushed in regards to the couple’s refreshing dynamic and his onscreen spouse, Bertha (Coon), an unflinching and bold an adversary within the present’s cutthroat world.

“They discover in one another their equal and their match. There are some moments within the season the place little fissures open up between them, however they’re issues that exist inside a marriage,” Spector mentioned on the time. “They are not the sorts of issues that you’d concede to any person who’s making an attempt to threaten their marriage. On the extent of George’s deep feeling for Bertha, he does imply each phrase he says.”

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The self-proclaimed “spouse man” informed EW that George and Bertha’s relationship is one which displays his real-life love with Corridor.

He mentioned, “This concept of parity in a relationship — of actual equality and creating the infrastructure in your relationship to have good communication and shared labor with the intention to truly each be free to search out the fullest expression of your self — is completely a worth in my relationship. And one which I share with George, as completely different because the Russells are and as completely different as their time is.”

“That’s how I imagined George and Bertha. We see a lot of sad marriages in fiction,” he added. “They’re fascinating and so they’re dramatic and they’re unstable in a method that may result in actually compelling storylines, however writing good marriages is definitely actually troublesome. It requires some subtlety and is admittedly enjoyable to play as a result of it is not like there is not problem and complexity to relationships which can be pretty secure. As a result of that requires fixed balancing.”

The Gilded Age season 3 premieres Sunday, June 22 at 9 p.m. ET/PT on HBO.