Jun 4
Watch: Gender Roles. Society in Flux. Glimpses of 'The Gilded Age' Season 3 Abound in New Trailer
Kilian Melloy READ TIME: 2 MIN.
Debates around gender roles and the proper status of women. Questions of rights around voting and who gets to marry whom. Most are poor, but the rich live extravagantly. Society is in flux. If this all sounds familiar, it's not just because it's what you see around you every day. It's also the stuff from which Julian Fellowes' HBO Max drama "The Gilded Age" is wrought.
The show's third season is on the way. Carrie Coon dons the elaborate dresses of her ambitious character, Bertha Russell, after Coon's star turn in the latest season of "The White Lotus," and a new trailer gives a glimpse of what's to come.
The trailer comes hot on the heels of a trailer for the third (and, supposedly, final) "Downton Abbey" movie, "The Grand Finale," based on Fellowes' other period piece hit.
But while the curtain might be about to descend on the British nobs and their faithful servants that audiences have come to love, the American counterpart to "Downton" seems to be hitting its stride. The new trailer shows younger characters like Marian Brook (Louisa Jacobson) and Gladys Russell (Taissa Farmiga) pushing back against elders eager to make life decisions on their behalf, while those same elders – including Coon's social-climbing Bertha and Marian's socialite aunt, Agnes van Rhijn (Christine Baranski) – dig in their heels to resist the tide of progress.
Meanwhile, Peggy Scott – an aspiring journalist, independent young woman, and Agnes' secretary – makes a compelling argument about why women should have the right to vote. Even Agnes' long-suffering sister, Ada Forte (Cyntha Nixon), and gay son, Oscar (Blake Ritson), show signs of defiance.
But the old ways are deeply set and won't be easy to dislodge. Though new-money railroad magnate George Russell (Morgan Spector) is a titan of business, it's Bertha who rules the roost, including final say over the welfare, and future prospects, of their children.
The show's log line has it that "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," IndieWire relayed.
The new season premieres June 22. Watch the trailer below.
Kilian Melloy serves as EDGE Media Network's Associate Arts Editor and Staff Contributor. His professional memberships include the National Lesbian & Gay Journalists Association, the Boston Online Film Critics Association, The Gay and Lesbian Entertainment Critics Association, and the Boston Theater Critics Association's Elliot Norton Awards Committee.
