The Gilded Age season 2 is seeing the battle for social prominence in 1880s New York City step up a gear.
In the eight-part run, which starts this month on HBO and Sky Atlantic and is penned by Downton Abbey creator Lord Julian Fellowes and Sonja Warfield (Will & Grace), the clash between old money and new is once more at the forefront following the class tensions of The Gilded Age season 1.
While ruthless nouveau riche railroad tycoon George Russell (Morgan Spector) and his ambitious wife Bertha (Carrie Coon) continue to battle for their place among the Manhattan elite, the Russells’ neighbours – caustic Agnes van Rhijn (Christine Baranski), her kindly sister Ada (Cynthia Nixon) and their spirited niece Marian (Louisa Jacobson) – whose wealth is long-established, face turmoil of their own.
What To Watch caught up with Lord Julian Fellowes to find out more about The Gilded Age season 2…
The Gilded Age season 2 has a big arc involving Bertha (Carrie Coon) clashing with socialite Mrs Astor (Donna Murphy) over the two opera houses – the established Academy of Music and the new Metropolitan Opera House – in New York City. What can you tell us about that?
“I write about social ambition, and society has always been run by women, they were in charge, powerful, and fighting for prominence. At that time, the Academy tried to keep out the new people, so the Gilded Age wives decided to build their own opera house [the Metropolitan]. They did everything better and got the best singers because they had unlimited money. They created a season no other opera house in the world could match. It’s extraordinary drama. The struggle infuses the season.”
There are lots of new faces this time including Robert Sean Leonard as caring vicar Rev Luke Forte, who catches Ada’s eye, Laura Benanti as widow Susan Blane, who employs Bertha’s architect son Larry (Harry Richardson), and David Furr as Dashiell Montgomery, who could be a match for Marian. Can you tease how these stories pan out?
“We have some fantastic actors. And these are emotionally driven storylines, with different outcomes. I’m interested in asking how, when a life isn't going to plan, would it be sensible to settle or should you hang out for what you've longed for? It’s a quandary and we explore the two sides… Agnes made a marriage where she settled for security, social and prominence and it wasn’t easy. But she has a mixed response to people who aren't prepared to make that compromise.”
We also see the challenges experienced by the Black community through the eyes of Marian’s writer friend Peggy Scott (Denée Benton), who turns to activism when she learns about life in the Deep South on a visit to the Tuskegee Institute, a school in Alabama. What can you reveal?
“Tuskegee was a really interesting discovery for me because it was in a place where racial prejudice was at its worst but its specific goals were to open society to young Black men and women. And that seemed so extraordinary, but it was all completely true. We immediately realised here was a really good setting to say all sorts of things about our characters.”
The struggles of the working class are showcased when George Russell is thrown into a bitter confrontation with the growing unions, as his steelworkers are demanding better pay and rights. Does that feel important to highlight?
“Yes, this was a period of upcoming world disruption that would result in the First World War. There’s a background of simmering trouble while people are trying to give a false sense that everything is secure. I think you can find elements of that in the world today, that we are living in a very disturbed era.”
What do you enjoy about exploring this period?
“Things about the Gilded Age kept cropping up for me. And finally, they started to turn into a kind of coherent story and a very distinct period in New York in America's history. It was a period like almost no other. I can't think of an equivalent of the Gilded Age in Europe. But the Gilded Age is quite specifically from the end of the Civil War to the beginning of the First War, and the more I read, the more interested I got in it.”
The Gilded Age season 2 airs in the US on Sundays at 9 pm ET/PT on HBO and in the UK on Mondays at 9 pm on Sky Atlantic.
