The Gilded Age Trivia | 80 facts about the historical drama

“The Gilded Age” is a historical drama television series created and written by the creator of “Downton Abbey”.

So let’s find out some trivia and facts about the television series.

1. The Gilded Age is an American historical drama television series
2. The series is created and written by Julian Fellowes for HBO
3. It is set in the United States during the Gilded Age
4. Meaning the boom years of the 1880s in New York City
5. Originally announced in 2018 for NBC
6. It was later announced in May 2019 that the show was moved to HBO
7. The series premiered on January 24, 2022
8. In February 2022, the series was renewed for a second season
9. The second season premiered on October 29, 2023
10. The series has received mostly positive reviews
11. With particular praise for the costumes, cast and performances of lead actors Carrie Coon, Morgan Spector and Christine Baranski
12. At review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the first season holds a 79% approval rating
13. Based on 76 reviews
14. With an average rating of 6.8/10
15. The site’s critical consensus reads: “Julian Fellowes’ brand of upstairs, downstairs intrigue makes a seamless transatlantic transition in The Gilded Age, with an outstanding cast making the travails of the rich a compelling watch”
16. At Metacritic, the season has a score of 68 out of 100
17. Based on 38 reviews
18. Indicating “generally favorable reviews”
19. On Rotten Tomatoes, the second season holds a 92% approval rating
20. Based on 13 reviews
21. With an average rating of 7.0/10
22. On Metacritic, the season has a score of 78 out of 100
23. Based on 11 reviews
24. Indicating “generally favorable reviews”
25. In September 2012, The Daily Telegraph reported Julian Fellowes as saying that he was working on a spin-off prequel of Downton Abbey
26. Initially conceived as a book
27. It was then planned for pick-up by ITV
28. At the time, Fellowes planned to focus the show around Lord Grantham and Cora’s romance and eventual marriage as the Earl and Countess of Grantham
29. Production and writing for The Gilded Age was updated in January 2016
30. Asked whether he’d written the script yet, Fellowes said, “No I haven’t, no. I’m doing that this year”, before adding: “And then hopefully shooting at the end of the year”
31. On June 4, 2016, Fellowes was asked by the Los Angeles Times, “Where does The Gilded Age stand?” Fellowes replied, “It stands really with me up to my neck in research, and I’m clearing the decks, so that when I start Gilded Age, I’m only doing Gilded Age”
32. The final confirmation the show would be produced was announced by NBC in January 2018
33. NBC originally announced that the show would consist of ten episodes and premiere in 2019
34. About the show, Fellowes stated: “To write The Gilded Age is the fulfillment of a personal dream, I have been fascinated by this period of American history for many years and now NBC has given me the chance to bring it to a modern audiences”
35. In September 2019, the production announced an initial cast consisting of Christine Baranski, Cynthia Nixon, Amanda Peet, and Morgan Spector
36. In November 2019, it was announced that Denée Benton, Louisa Jacobson, Taissa Farmiga, Blake Ritson, and Simon Jones would be joining the show
37. In January 2020, Harry Richardson, Thomas Cocquerel, and Jack Gilpin were cast as series regulars, with Jeanne Tripplehorn cast in a recurring role
38. In April Carrie Coon was cast as Bertha Russell to replace Peet because of delays caused by the COVID-19 pandemic
39. This caused the costuming team to change their approach, using the way Coon presents herself as inspiration for more metallic-colored dresses intended to evoke the burgeoning machine age
40. In January 2021, Nathan Lane joined the cast in a recurring role
41. In April 2022, it was announced several members of the recurring cast had been upgraded to series regular status for the second season
42. While Cocquerel will exit the series
43. Following the move to HBO, the series was expected to begin filming in March 2020,[35][36] before the COVID-19 pandemic delayed production.
44. Filming of the series began in Newport, Rhode Island in February 2021, at the mansions Chateau-sur-Mer, The Elms, and The Breakers
45. A casting call for Rhode Islanders to work as extras on the series was made in December 2020 prior to the production setting up in the city
46. In April 2021, filming continued at Lyndhurst Mansion in Tarrytown, NY and the Hudson River Museum in Yonkers, New York
47. In May 2021, filming continued in Troy, New York in its Central Troy Historic District where multiple city blocks were transformed to resemble a Victorian era street
48. During filming, a horse died on set and People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals asked for an investigation
49. HBO subsequently issued a statement confirming the death in late June, saying, “a horse collapsed and died, likely of natural causes, according to a veterinarian’s preliminary findings”
50. Filming for season two began in August, 2022
51. Filming for season two has taken place at various locations around White Plains, NY, including Manhattanville College’s Reid Hall
52. Reid Hall has been used as various sets including offices, a home parlor and an art gallery/museum
53. Reid Hall was designed by Stanford White and built in 1892 for the family of newspaper publisher and diplomat, Whitelaw Reid
54. Reid Castle was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1972
55. On May 21, 2021, the American Federation of Musicians of the United States and Canada (AFM) filed a charge for unfair labor practices against HBO and its Gilded Age production
56. The union claimed musicians were fired after asking they be represented by AFM
57. Two days later HBO agreed to cover the members “on an AFM basis”
58. Although The Gilded Age is a work of fiction, Julian Fellowes worked to accurately represent certain realities of the time period
59. Caroline Schermerhorn Astor, also known as “The” Mrs. Astor, ruled New York society in the late nineteenth century
60. Descending from Dutch settlers, the “knickerbocker” married relatively new money William Backhouse Astor Jr
61. At the time the series takes place, Astor (Donna Murphy) and her husband are largely estranged
62. Dismayed by the chaos caused by the end of the Civil War and the rise of new money, and armed with her own distinguished lineage and her husband’s fortune, she became the gatekeeper to high society
63. She and her associate Ward McAllister (Nathan Lane) decreed that members of respectable society must be separated by at least three generations from the origin of the family fortune, as she herself was
64. McAllister, Mrs. Astor’s right-hand man, spent years across the Atlantic absorbing culture, details of European courts, and society news
65. Although some recognized his devotion to preserving elegance and tradition, others saw him as an unapologetic snob
66. Two characters, Bertha and George Russell (Carrie Coon and Morgan Spector), appear to be at least partly based on the formidable Alva and William K. Vanderbilt
67. Alva Esrkine Vanderbilt (later Alva Belmont) came from a wealthy Mobile, Alabama family that lost its money after the Civil War
68. Determined to regain her social status, she married a scion of the immensely wealthy Vanderbilt family in 1875
69. But the Vanderbilts were considered too “new money” by Caroline Astor and were largely ignored
70. Determined to ascend to the upper echelons of society, Alva Vanderbilt set out to impress Caroline Astor
71. Among her strategies, she hired society architect Richard Morris Hunt to build a luxurious mansion on Fifth Avenue, then hosted an enormous, extravagant ball for 1,000 as a ‘house-warming’
72. All details of the festivities were leaked in advance to the press, and young society waited breathlessly for the upcoming ball – including Caroline Astor’s daughter, Carrie (Amy Forsyth)
73. Caroline Astor was forced to call on Alva Vanderbilt to ensure her daughter received an invitation
74. The ball a success, the family was officially welcomed into New York high society
75. If Bertha Russell is modeled on Alva Vanderbilt, her husband, George Russell, bears little similarity to his counterpart, William K. Vanderbilt
76. He seems to be inspired by Vanderbilt only on the basis of wealth and marriage to an Alva-like wife
77. Other historical figures who appear in the series include Clara Barton (Linda Emond), founder of the American Red Cross, and T. Thomas Fortune (Sullivan Jones), a man born into slavery who would become one of the leading Black journalists of his day
78. In his editorials, he wrote passionately about civil rights and denounced racial segregation and discrimination
79. He also helped found a predecessor to the NAACP, the Afro-American League
80. The second season will consist of 8 episodes