This article contains spoilers for The Gilded Age Season 4, Episode 1.
HBO’s The Gilded Age is back, and it’s about time everyone started paying attention. The period drama had a relatively modest start when it premiered in 2022, but its third season in 2025 saw a considerable surge in viewership. Its Season 3 finale drew more than five million viewers within its first three days, setting a series record. As actress Carrie Coon told IndieWire, “It’s so rare that you let a show be on the air for a few years to find its audience.”
Fortunately, Julian Fellowes’ latest exercise in expensive clothes, complicated romances, and petty polite society squabbles has finally found its people.
And why shouldn’t it? The Downton Abbey creator has assembled a cast that includes Coon, Christine Baranski, Cynthia Nixon, Donna Murphy, and Morgan Spector, who’s embraced the role of “Railroad Daddy.” There’s also the pleasure of watching Baranski play aunt to Meryl Streep’s daughter again, with Louisa Jacobson stepping into the family role here (Baranski also played Streep’s daughter’s godmother in Mamma Mia!). The show can get a little tropey, but between the lavish production design and the drama, it’s hard not to have a good time.
Season 4 opens with plenty of unfinished business. George Russell (Spector) — not to be confused with the F1 driver — and his wife Bertha (Coon) ended the previous season on bad terms, with their marriage seemingly headed for a breaking point. Ada (Nixon) has taken over as mistress of the van Rhijn household after inheriting her late husband’s secret fortune, while her nephew Oscar (Blake Ritson) has recovered some financial security through his marriage to Enid Winterton (Kelley Curran). Her niece, Marian (Jacobson), and Larry Russell (Harry Richardson), meanwhile, called off their engagement after a breakdown in trust. And Gladys Russell (Taissa Farmiga) adjusts to married life with Hector Vere (Ben Lamb), the Duke of Buckingham.
The premiere, titled “Ring the Bells,” wastes little time getting everyone into trouble.
A Wedding, A Reunion, and A Baby
Oscar and Enid are officially married, and their arrangement is already one of my favorite things about this season. Their lavender marriage rests on Oscar’s social connections and Enid’s wealth, which she came by only after her wealthy but old husband died in Season 3. Both understand what the other needs, and they’re even planning to set up an “avant-garde” salon of their own to establish their place in society. Very gay-and-bear of them!
Their wedding festivities bring Marian and Larry back together. Both insist they’ve moved on, but the lingering glances across the church pews suggest otherwise. When the two take a carriage home, a thunderstorm spooks the horses and a broken wheel forces them to seek shelter at a nearby hotel. You already know where this goes.
Larian fans are finally treated to some chemistry that was missing in the previous season, and to implications of a night spent together (that’s the most we’ll get in a Julian Fellowes show). But in the morning, Marian panics at the thought of being discovered and worries about the damage to her reputation. She returns home alone, later confiding in her friend Peggy (Denée Benton), who tells her she’s being far too hard on herself.
Meanwhile, in England, Gladys is facing a much more serious crisis. Her baby is in a breech position, and the doctor warns Hector that he may have to choose between saving his wife and their child. Hector makes his priorities clear: he wants both to survive, but if he must choose, he wants Gladys saved.
Both mother and baby initially make it through the delivery, but Gladys soon begins hemorrhaging. The doctor performs an emergency hysterectomy to stop the bleeding, saving her life but leaving her unable to have more children. Hector and Bertha decide to keep this from Gladys while she recovers, even as she’s expressed her desire to have a larger family.
Trouble Brewing in New York
Back home, Peggy celebrates the publication of her first book. She’s also getting married to Dr. William Kirkland (Jordan Donica), but in the meantime, she must deal with her future monster-in-law, Elizabeth (Phylicia Rashad), who has already taken charge of the wedding plans.
Former van Rhijn footman, Jack Trotter (Ben Ahlers), meanwhile, is adjusting to life as a successful inventor and businessman. But his new standing hasn’t erased his insecurities about mixing with wealthy, educated people like Isaac Newton himself. He turns to the van Rhijn butler and cook, Mr. Bannister (Simon Jones) and Mrs. Bauer (Kristine Nielsen), for lessons in dining etiquette.
The van Rhijn household is also preparing to host President Grover Cleveland. Agnes (Baranski) sees the dinner as an opportunity to cement the family’s legacy, but Ada is reluctant to keep funding it after learning from Peggy that Cleveland has failed to address the violence and discrimination faced by Black Americans in the South. After a brief argument, Ada withdraws her support from the dinner.
Agnes has another reason to be displeased when her lady’s maid, Mrs. Armstrong (Debra Monk), reveals that Enid once worked as Bertha’s lady’s maid. Agnes confronts her new daughter-in-law, who refuses to be embarrassed by her past. “We have both entered this marriage with open eyes,” Enid tells her, though Agnes misses the implication. She eventually offers to help fund the presidential dinner, giving Agnes another reason to tolerate her.
George, meanwhile, is dealing with mounting business troubles, including a growing conflict with oil magnate John D. Rockefeller over railroad rates. When the detectives investigating last season’s assassination attempt show him sketches of a suspected shooter and a female accomplice, George recognizes both faces but cannot place them.
Some faces we viewers can place are David Letterman and Matt Damon, who make blink-and-you’ll-miss-it cameos as society gentlemen in this episode (“It was some bit that Letterman had cooked up,” Coon told Entertainment Tonight).
Between Gladys’s frightening childbirth, Oscar and Enid’s unconventional marriage, and Marian and Larry’s long-awaited reunion, The Gilded Age is wasting no time getting back to business. With George’s enemies closing in and the Russells still far from making peace, there’s plenty of trouble ahead.
The Gilded Age Season 4 is streamingStreamingListening to music or watching video on demand over the internet through platforms like Spotify and Netflix, rather than owning copies. Streaming has changed how artists earn and how audiencesGo to Streaming Glossary on HBO Max.
Frequently Asked Questions
The Gilded Age stars Carrie Coon as Bertha Russell, Morgan Spector as George Russell, Christine Baranski as Agnes van Rhijn, Cynthia Nixon as Ada Brook, Louisa Jacobson as Marian Brook, and Denée Benton as Peggy Scott. The ensemble also includes Harry Richardson as Larry Russell, Taissa Farmiga as Gladys Russell, Blake Ritson as Oscar van Rhijn, Kelley Curran as Enid Winterton, and Donna Murphy as Caroline Astor. Other notable cast members include Audra McDonald, Phylicia Rashad, Ben Lamb, and Hattie Morahan.
Created by Julian Fellowes, The Gilded Age is an HBO historical drama set in 1880s New York City. The series follows Marian Brook, a young woman who moves in with her wealthy aunts, Agnes and Ada, and becomes caught up in the social rivalry between New York’s established old-money families and ambitious newcomers George and Bertha Russell.
Yes. The Gilded Age is a work of historical fiction inspired by real people, families, and events in late-19th-century America. George and Bertha Russell are fictional characters loosely based on railroad and business magnate William K. Vanderbilt and his wife, Alva Vanderbilt. The series also features real historical figures, including socialite Caroline Astor and society arbiter Ward McAllister, alongside fictional characters and storylines. While the show incorporates actual historical details, many of its personal relationships, rivalries, and dramatic events are fictionalized.
All four seasons of The Gilded Age are available to stream on HBO Max in the Philippines, with new episodes out weekly for Season 4.
Yes. The Gilded Age has received multiple award nominations, including Primetime Emmy nominations for its performances, directing, hairstyling, and production design. Its first major Emmy win came at the 2022 Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards, where it won Outstanding Production Design for a Narrative Period or Fantasy Program.
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