Downton Abbey creator Julian Fellowes has another big hit on his hands. HBO renewed his latest costume drama, The Gilded Age, just a couple weeks into its freshman season. The series features an all-star cast headlined by Christine Baranski, Cynthia Nixon, and Carrie Coon.
The Gilded Age is set in New York City during the late 1800s, where Bertha Russell (Coon) is trying to break into polite society while her husband George (Morgan Spector) makes maneuvers to take control of the railroad industry. Meanwhile, Marian Brook (Louisa Jacobson) has moved to New York to live with her aunts Agnes van Rhijn (Baranski) and Ada Brook (Nixon), and becomes close friends with the ambitious Peggy Scott (Denee Benton), who dreams of becoming a writer. The first season runs nine episodes, with the season finale scheduled to air on Monday, March 21. Episodes are also released on HBO Max. The series premiere had HBO’s best Monday night start since Chernobyl.
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“Julian Fellowes and the entire Gilded Age family have thoroughly captivated us with their tale of late 19th century New York City extravagance,” HBO Programming Executive Vice President Francesca Orsi said in a statement. “Along with our partners at Universal Television, we couldn’t be prouder to embark on a season two journey with this extraordinarily talented team.”
“The first season of The Gilded Age is the beginning of an epic story that introduced a fascinating world full of intriguing characters,” Universal Television President Erin Underhill added. “The scope of Julian’s vision is ambitious, and we’re thrilled to continue to explore the depths of this fascinating era with HBO.”
In an exclusive interview with PopCulture.com last month, Coon said if the show was renewed, she would love to go back to some of the incredible places the production has found, especially the great summer homes that still exist in Newport, Rhode Island. “I’m looking forward to going back if we have the opportunity to do another season,” Coon said. “And I hope that more people will go and they can enjoy these places firsthand. They’re open to the public and that’s just not something I knew about growing up in the Midwest.”
The show has also been noted for its astonishingly talented collection of stars. “I think there was so much joy on that set,” Broadway legend Kelli O’Hara, who has an important recurring part as Aurora Fane, told PopCulture.com. “We said it was a little bit like being in repertory theater. We were all there together, continually rejoining each other, coming back, but we all sort of had a previous history with each other.”
