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'The Gilded Age' Season 3 premiere: Release date, trailer, new cast members and how to watch. Plus, what fans can expect.
Marriage proposals, robber baron business deals and new characters — oh my!
You're cordially invited to the unfolding of juicy melodrama among high society in 1800s New York with the Season 3 premiere of HBO's Emmy-nominated show, The Gilded Age.
So pull up an opulent velvet chair and grab your opera glasses as we take a closer look at what's to come in this period drama from Downton Abbey creator Julian Fellowes.
Season 3 of The Gilded Age drops this Sunday, June 22, at 9 p.m. ET on HBO and will also be available to stream on HBO Max. There will be a total of eight episodes this season, with a new episode airing every Sunday through Aug. 10.
The battle between old and new money families continued…
Bertha Russell (Carrie Coon), whose family is considered 'new money' because of her railroad tycoon husband's fortune, was still shut out by old money elites like Mrs. Astor (Donna Murphy), an influential patron at the well-established Academy of Music.
Bertha was fed up with Mrs. Astor denying her family an opera box, which was seen as a symbol of status and power.
Hell-bent on climbing the social ladder, Bertha started an opera war and used her family's wealth to support the newly built Metropolitan Opera. The new venue threatened audience attendance on opening night at the Academy of Music.
Bertha won the opera war when the Duke of Buckingham (Ben Lamb) ultimately decided to attend the Met opening, which was met with high societal fanfare. But Bertha's victory came at a cost, it seems, which is implied at the end of the season that she promised her daughter Gladys's (Taissa Farmiga) hand to the Duke.
The Russell family patriarch, George Russell (Morgan Spector), faced backlash from the steelworkers who manufactured his railroads and demanded fair pay and better working conditions. Tensions reached a boiling point when armed militia were ready to shoot the protesting laborers. George called off his men before things turned violent and granted some of the laborers' demands.
Meanwhile, Agnes van Rhijn (Christine Baranski) found out that her son Oscar (Blake Ritson) had lost the family fortune. Ada Forte (Cynthia Nixon), Agnes's sister, learns that her late husband left her a substantial fortune, and the power dynamic Agnes had with Ada has started to shift.
The period melodrama included juicy romances in the love lives of Marian Brook (Louisa Jacobson) and Peggy Scott (Denée Benton). Marian realized she's in love with Larry Russell (Harry Richardson), while Peggy shut down her affair with T. Thomas Fortune (Sullivan Jones), a married man.
According to a media release from HBO, the Russell family is poised to take their place at the head of high society, following Bertha's victory in the opera wars. 'Bertha sets her sights on a prize that would elevate the family to unimaginable heights, while George risks everything on a gambit that could revolutionize the railroad industry — if it doesn't ruin him first,' HBO says.
Bertha has high hopes for a marriage between her daughter Gladys and the Duke, despite her daughter's interest in another young man, Billy Carlton (Matt Walker). In Season 2, George had also promised Gladys she could marry for love, even if it went against Bertha's wishes. This leads to greater conflict between George and Bertha in the new season.
Across 61st Street from the Russell household on the Upper East Side, Agnes struggles to accept Ada's new position as lady of the house with her newfound wealth. Peggy meets a new love interest from Newport, R.I., whose family isn't keen on her career as a writer and journalist.
The Gilded Age features a big cast of show regulars, including: Carrie Coon as Bertha Russell, Christine Baranski as Agnes Van Rhijn, Cynthia Nixon as Ada Forte, Morgan Spector as George Russell, Louisa Jacobson as Marian Brook, Denée Benton as Peggy Scott, Taissa Farmiga as Gladys Russell, Harry Richardson as Larry Russell, Blake Ritson as Oscar Van Rhijn and Ben Ahlers as Jack Trotter.
New additions to the cast in Season 3 include: Jordan Donica, Andrea Martin, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Hattie Morahan, Leslie Uggams, Merritt Wever, Bill Camp and Phylicia Rashad.
