What with Downton Abbey: A New Eraheaded to cinema screens next year and now The Gilded Age pencilling in a launch date for Sky Atlantic/HBO, everything's coming up Fellowes. Julian Fellowes, that is, the creator of both. HBO has now dropped the teaser for the latter.
The series takes place in New York City during the 1880s and will focus on the city's one-percenters (long before that term was coined). Cynthia Nixon stars as Ada Brook, an unmarried woman who is a member of the old New York aristocracy. She will be joined by Christine Baranski, playing her sister Agnes van Rhijn, a widow who is also a member of the aristocracy. Louisa Jacobson plays their penniless niece Marion, who goes to live with the sisters. Carrie Coon plays Bertha Russell and Morgan Spector plays her husband George, who are the sisters' new wealthy neighbors attempting to break into society. Denee Benton plays Peggy Scott, a budding writer who ends up working for Agnes because of her good penmanship, despite how her employment raises a few eyebrows.
"It's not the golden age, it's the gilded age," Fellowes has said about the setting. "And that tells us that it was all about the surface. It was all about the look of things, making the right appearance, creating the right image. That's what was really what distinguished the era."
If you're a Downton fan missing the more regular appearance of the series, this appears to be right up your richly decorated street. The Gilded Age will launch on HBO on Monday 24 January, arriving here via Sky Atlantic and NOW on 25 January.