The Gilded Age, a new HBO series from the creators of Downton Abbey, and which filmed in Newport and Warwick in early 2021, premiered Monday night, January 24, 2022.
Set in New York City and Newport, Rhode Island circa 1882, the series regulars will be Emmy-award and two-time Tony-award winner Christine Baranski, Carrie Coon, Emmy winner Cynthia Nixon, Morgan Spector, Denée Benton, Louisa Jacobson, Taissa Farmiga, Blake Ritson, Simon Jones, Harry Richardson, Thomas Cocquerel and Jack Gilpin. Rounding out the cast are Patrick Page, Douglas Sills, Amy Forsyth, Taylor Richardson, Kelley Curran, and Ben Ahlers.
The American Gilded Age was a period of immense economic change, of great conflict between the old ways and brand new systems, and of huge fortunes made and lost. Against the backdrop of this transformation, HBO’s The Gilded Age begins in 1882 with young Marian Brook (Christine Baranski), moving from rural Pennsylvania to New York City after the death of her father to live with her thoroughly old money aunts Agnes van Rhijn (Christine Baranski) and Ada Brook (Cynthia Nixon). Accompanied by Peggy Scott (Denée Benton), an aspiring writer seeking a fresh start, Marian inadvertently becomes enmeshed in a social war between one of her aunts, a scion of the old money set, and her stupendously rich neighbors, a ruthless railroad tycoon and his ambitious wife, George (Morgan Spector) and Bertha Russell (Carrie Coon). Exposed to a world on the brink of the modern age, will Marian follow the established rules of society, or forge her own path?
Creator, Writer and Executive Producer Lord Julian Fellowes stated, “One of the principal joys of filming The Gilded Age was the discovery of Newport, Rhode Island. I had heard of it, of course, but I never went there until now and I found a beautiful seaside town, filled with architectural marvels, and not only that, but the people were as kind and helpful as any filmmaker could wish. I look forward to returning as soon as it can possibly be arranged.”
Executive Producer David Crockett said, “We are incredibly thankful for all of the collaborations we had in Rhode Island – from Steven Feinberg at the Film & Television Office, to the whole team at the Department of Business Regulations, to Trudy and Phil at the Newport Preservation Society and to the owners of numerous homes and business that welcomed us for housing, feeding and holding our cast and crew.”
The Gilded Age, a co-production between HBO and Universal Television, is the brain-child of the acclaimed Downton Abbey team of Lord Fellowes, executive producer Gareth Neame and Michael Engler. David Crockett also executive produces along with directors Michael Engler and Salli Richardson-Whitfield. Sonja Warfield is also on board as writer and co-executive producer.
Governor Daniel J. McKee said, “Rhode Island is very proud to have hosted the cast and crew of such a high-quality series as “The Gilded Age”. It’s great to see a production that showcases our beautiful Ocean State. With our unique landscape and talented local artists, Rhode Island is an ideal location to film a motion picture or television series. Every time a production shoots here we see a positive impact on our local businesses. This is the type of energy that keeps moving our economy forward.”
Steven Feinberg, Executive Director of the Rhode Island Film & TV Office, remarked “HBO’s The Gilded Age television series is a dream come true! Since its inception over a decade ago, we were tenacious to bring this very special production to the Ocean State. Our beautifully preserved mansions are priceless jewels and we always believed that Newport would be the ideal location for Lord Julian Fellowes’ tale and would help maximize his exquisite vision. Thankfully, he and his talented team agreed. Rhode Island is fortunate because we have superb collaborative partners in both the public and private sectors who enjoy building a positive environment for the creative economy to shine. We are particularly grateful to HBO for choosing to make television history here while providing good jobs for many local artists and hard-working technicians from across Rhode Island. This is exactly the result we’ve all been working towards for the past few years. We strongly believe the global audience’s enthusiasm for this entertaining series will boost Rhode Island tourism for many, many years to come!”
The Gilded Age airs Mondays, January 24 through March 21.
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