Elizabeth Olsen’s Atheism vs. Candy Montgomery’s Devotion: The Stark Inner Conflict Behind Love & Death

In HBO Max’s Love & Death, Elizabeth Olsen delivers a haunting portrayal of Candy Montgomery, the devout Methodist housewife at the center of one of Texas’s most chilling true-crime cases. But behind Olsen’s Emmy-worthy performance lies a striking personal contrast: while her character clings to religious community and doctrine, Olsen herself has openly identified as an atheist since the age of 13.

This dramatic difference between actor and role adds a layer of depth to Olsen’s performance that audiences may not immediately see. While Montgomery is shown leading church choirs, attending potlucks, and nurturing her Methodist faith, Olsen has spoken candidly in past interviews about her skepticism toward organized religion. “Religion should be about community and having a place to go in prayer—not something that should determine women’s freedoms,” she once remarked, making her distance from her character’s worldview abundantly clear.

Love & Death, which premiered on April 27, 2023, tells the gripping story of two Texas couples caught in a web of infidelity, faith, and ultimately, murder. Montgomery’s affair with Allan Gore led to the brutal 1980 axe killing of Betty Gore, Allan’s wife—a crime for which Montgomery was tried and controversially acquitted. The show, created by David E. Kelley and directed by Lesli Linka Glatter and Clark Johnson, puts the cultural fabric of late-70s suburbia under the microscope, particularly the role of religion in shaping public personas.

For Olsen, stepping into this world meant embodying not just a woman accused of murder, but someone whose identity was tightly wound in faith—a faith Olsen does not share. “I’ve always admired actors who can completely lose themselves in roles that are so far from who they are,” one critic wrote. “What Olsen does here is transformative.”

Though Olsen’s portrayal of Montgomery is not the first—Jessica Biel also portrayed the infamous housewife in Hulu’s Candy—critics have noted that Olsen’s performance dives deeper into the religious and emotional undercurrents that drove Montgomery’s actions. That psychological complexity is compounded by the real-life dichotomy of a secular actor portraying a woman of devout conviction.

This performance has only further cemented Olsen’s range and versatility. Known widely for her role as Wanda Maximoff in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Olsen steps far away from fantasy into the realm of true crime, grounding Montgomery’s contradictions in a chilling realism.

In many ways, Love & Death is more than a retelling of a violent act—it’s a quiet meditation on repression, community pressure, and the roles women are forced to play. And for Elizabeth Olsen, it’s a personal and professional triumph—a performance born from conflict, internal and external, that audiences won’t soon forget.