The Gilded Age season 2: Release date, cast, plot and where to watch

The renewed historical drama, The Gilded Age season 2, is dropping on Sunday, October 29, 2023, on HBO and Max. The first season of the period drama won an Emmy along with the appreciation of fans. Created by Julian Fellowes of Downton Abbey fame, the show focuses on nineteenth-century New York and the rise of a female protagonist.

While multiple Emmy-winning Downton Abbey revolved around the Crawley family following the Titanic tragedy in the early twentieth century, The Gilded Age is about a family settling down in New York as old beliefs clash with new aspirations, in the first season of the series, Bertha Russell went against the elders of the family to rule the United States railroad system.

With the first trailer for The Gilded Age season 2 released in August 2023, the show will have protagonist Bertha using negotiations and discussions instead of firearms to win her adversaries. However, fans from the previous season know Bertha would not back down from any conflict. The official trailer was released on October 10.

Disclaimer: This article may contain spoilers for The Gilded Age Season 2. Reader's discretion is advised.

When and where to watch The Gilded Age Season 2

As an HBO production, The Gilded Age season 2 will be aired on the main HBO channel. The recently rebranded streaming platform for HBO is Max. As such, viewers with no access to HBO can stream the show on Max, which will make the episodes available simultaneously with the live television home channel. Viewers can also revisit the first season of the show available on Max.

The Gilded Age season 2 will premiere on Sunday, October 29, 2023, at 9 pm ET/PT. The episode will be available on the streaming platform at the same time, which is 9 pm ET/PT. As with season 1, season 2 will also air each new episode every following Sunday at 9 pm.

The cast and plot of The Gilded Age Season 2

The Gilded Age season 2 will likely see most of the main cast from Season 1 return. The lead actor reprising the role of Bertha Russell will be Emmy-nominated Carrie Coon. Some of the other expected actors in the second season are:

Nathan Lane as ward McAllister
Louisa Jacobson as Marian Brook
Christine Baranski as Agnes Van Rhijn
Cynthia Nixon as Ada Brook
Denée Benton as Peggy Scott
Blake Ritson as Oscar Van Rhijn
Morgan Spectre as George Russell
Taissa Farmiga as Gladys Russell
Harry Richardson as Larry Russell
Simon Jones as Bannister
Jack Gilpin as Church
Rebeca Haden as Flora McNeil
Laura Benanti as Susan Blane
Robert Sean Leonard as Reverend Matthew Forte
Michael Braugher as Booker T Washington
Nicole Brydon Bloom as Caroline Styvesant
David Furr as Dashiell Montgomery
Matilda Lawler as Frances Montgomery
Ben Lamb as The Duke of Buckingham

While this is not an extensive list, the cast will have many more from the first season and new actors to play new characters in The Gilded Age season 2.

Many new characters will be present with those from the previous season (Image via HBO)

Not much is revealed in the trailer of The Gilded Age season 2 except a few pointers. It starts with Bertha’s request for a box at the Academy of Music getting denied, for which she plans to make a retaliatory move. Ward McAllister warns her against taking up a war with the New York society.

On the other hand, George is expected to face the rising problem of unionization at his steel factory.

Season 1 revealed that Peggy’s son was alive, and Peggy headed to Philadelphia with her mother to look for her son. The upcoming season is expected to follow up on this lead.

Bertha Russell will continue with her aspirations (Image via HBO)

The synopsis for the show reads:

"The Gilded Age was a period of immense economic change, of huge fortunes made and lost, and of fierce rivalry between old money and new. Nowhere is that rivalry more apparent than on East 61st Street, where Marian Brook and her thoroughly old money aunts, Agnes Van Rhijn and Ada Brook, live opposite the stupendously rich George and Bertha Russell."

It continues,

"The Russells are both fiercely ambitious, he financially, she socially, and they are determined to reach the highest echelons of New York. Meanwhile in Brooklyn, Marian’s friend and confidant Peggy Scott forges her own path in the world of the Black elite. In this glittering world on the brink of the modern age, will the established rule of society prevail, or will the game change entirely?"

The Gilded Age season 2 is expected to have eight episodes. Look out for the premiere episode of the show on HBO or stream on Max on October 29, 2023.