‘The Gilded Age’ Boss Previews ‘Coupling & Uncoupling’ of Season 3

Ileane Rudolph June 19, 2025, 12:00 pm

Fans of The Gilded Age, a snapshot of life among the (mostly) elite in 1880s NYC, will find rising stakes in the characters’ quests for wealth, power and love in Season 3 as a recession looms. Railroad tycoon George Russell (Morgan Spector), one of the so-called robber barons, for one, will hit snags with his plans to expand his railroad lines, while the show’s formidable women will try to advance their status through marriages — whether love is involved or not.

Writer and executive producer Sonja Warfield gives TV Insider the scoop on the season’s upcoming machinations.

What are the main plots and plans and struggles this season?

Sonja Warfield: I see the season as coupling and uncoupling. So we’ve got a lot people coming together and people coming apart. Nowadays, we take divorce for granted, but back then divorce was rare and taboo. You were shunned by society if you got divorced.

Even for the innocent party?

Yes, as you’ll see with Aurora Fane [Kelli O’Hara] a cousin of the old money van Rhijns. In the patriarchy, if the man initiated the divorce, it didn’t really matter, because a woman’s place was tied up in being Mrs. George Russell or Mrs. Charles Fane. That was your identity.

Karolina Wojtasik / HBO

Let’s talk about this season’s romances. What can you say about the blossoming love between George and Bertha (Carrie Coon) Russell’s son Larry (Harry Richardson) and Marian Brook (Louisa Jacobson), the niece of Agnes Van Rhijn (Christine Baranski) and Ada Forte (Cynthia Nixon)? How do their families feel about that?

There will be hurdles. Agnes believes Marian should be married by now, but she is not a fan of the new money Russell family. Ada is supportive of Marian but in a raw, honest way. George wants what his son wants, but we’ll see if that’s who Bertha, who pulls all the strings, would choose for Larry.

Bertha is surely not happy with the decent, old money young man her daughter Gladys (Taissa Farmiga) thinks she loves. Is Bertha hoping to convince England’s Duke of Buckingham (Ben Lamb) to marry Gladys when he returns to New York? That would be a huge win for Bertha.

Bertha is playing the long game and looking out for her daughter. I’m not mad at her. Having George Russell as a father would be intimidating to any suitors, whether they’re old or new money, because he is a titan of industry. Bertha is thinking about, would that man come to resent the fact that, he will always sort of be in the shadow of the business of George Russell?

A wealthy young woman marrying an Englishman with a title and a lot less money than her parents happened quite a bit in the Victorian era.

We have to see what Gladys’ life will be. Will it be what she chooses?

The season opens with George Russell out West talking business with mine owners as he tries to buy their mines — and their land — for his rail lines. But there is financial danger in what he’s doing as some banks and brokerage firms start to fail.

George sees the big picture. He wants what he wants, and he’s going to come up against other men of the industry and JP Morgan [Bill Camp] and the banks, and he’s really going for broke. We’re going to see what he ends up with, but he is risking it all. And with big risk comes big reward or failure. There is a twist that I will not give away, but he does really come up to the brink of losing everything.

Audra McDonald and Denée Benton in 'The Gilded Age' Season 3

Karolina Wojtasik / HBO

Peggy Scott (Denée Benton), a journalist/novelist and sometime secretary to Agnes, runs up against both racism and the snobbish well-off Newport Black community. She will get close to handsome Dr. William Kirkland (Jordan Donica), who treated her flu. Could that turn into something more long-term?

Peggy’s writing is getting more attention, and she has family in Newport, which was more integrated than most places. We’ll deal with colorism there, which was sort of like the caste system.

Phylicia Rashad plays Elizabeth Kirkland, the doctor’s mother. She and her pastor husband [Brian Stokes Mitchell] come from a wealthy Newport family whose roots go back to the founding of the country. I would categorize her as sort of Newport’s Black Mrs. Astor. She has high expectations of him and she will prove to be a problem regarding Peggy.

There’s a storyline this season about young footman Jack (Ben Ahlers), an inventor of the modern alarm clock. Sounds promising.

He’s the Brook house footman and his is truly an American story where there is class mobility because of money which is very different in England. There’s been lots of stories about women who were servants marrying upward, but here’s a young man whose life might drastically change mostly for the better, as an inventor. He is living the American dream, and we’ll see where that lands him.

Agnes’ secretly gay son Oscar Van Rhijn (Blake Ritson) had lost his clients and social standing last season. What’s his future? Is he going up the ladder or down?

He is on an upward trajectory. He starts in a low place and starts to climb his way out of that. We take him on an emotional rollercoaster ride, with some interesting twists. Part of his journey is coming to terms with who he is.

'The Gilded Age': 5 Historical Events Covered in Season 3, the Most Action-Packed Season Yet

How is Agnes dealing with her younger sister Ada taking over the household now that she owns the family house thanks to her late husband’s fortune?

As the older sister, Agnes thought she would always have the upper hand over Ada, but now Ada gets to come into her own and have a voice. You’ll also see Ada struggling over the loss off her husband and she searches for a cause to throw herself into.

Any other new characters?

We meet Charlotte [Hannah Shealy], another daughter of Mrs. Astor [Donna Murphy]. She gets herself in a lot of trouble with society that causes Mrs. Astor to choose between her family and that society. Nathan Lane is back as Mrs. Astor’s confidant [Ward McAllister], and he stirs up a lot of trouble as well, as did the real person he’s based on.

The Gilded Age, Season 3 Premiere, Sunday, June 22, 9/8c, HBO