Denigrated by some and loved by others, the affectionately called genre 'of tea cups' is one of the few in which we can always trust that we will find what we are looking for. One of its main exponents on television is Downton Abbey, the British series about the Crowley family and their servants, which conquered critics, viewers, and industry awards on both sides of the Atlantic.

From its premiere in 2010 to the movies released in theaters after its end in 2015 (a third one is in the works), its charm continues to be present, and what better way to fill its void than a similar proposal signed by its creator, Julian Fellowes, who with the same spirit and a change of scenery focuses on a group of aristocratic families in New York in the late 19th century.

Set in 1882, three decades before the beginning of the popular British series, and in New York, The Gilded Age shares with its predecessor a preference for showing the majestic and formal lifestyle of high society. It also shares the rebellious spirit of some of its protagonists against the norms of society at the time and the point of view of the people in charge of the ceremonial service required by the mansions they inhabit.

But the atmosphere in this new series is different. If Downton Abbey began with the sinking of the Titanic and the looming First World War, The Gilded Age puts us at the doorstep of the arrival of modernity, in a period of prosperity a few decades after the American Civil War.

The series starts with Marian Brook, the orphaned daughter of a Union General, who moves in with her wealthy aunts in New York. There, she will be caught in a ruthless war between them and their neighbors, George Russell, a railroad magnate, and Bertha, his ambitious wife.

In a world that is on the brink of change and openness to modernity, Marian must choose between following the established rules of society or carving out her own path, a decision she will have to make in a context of racial and power struggles.

More than just following the lives of the homeowners and those in their service in parallel (although there is a bit of that too), the series explores in its episodes a different classism: that which separates the new rich from those who have belonged to New York's high class since its foundation ("Old Money").

On and off-camera

The scripts are signed by Fellowes and Sonja Warfield (Will and Grace), with Michael Engler (Downton Abbey) and Salli Richardson-Whitfield (The Wheel of Time) directing.

The cast is led by Christine Baranski (The Good Fight) and Carrie Coon (The Leftovers) accompanied by a cast of well-known Broadway actors, including Cynthia Nixon, Taissa Farmiga, Audra McDonald, Blake Ritson, Denée Benton, Louisa Jacobson, Thomas Cocquerel, Harry Richardson, Simon Jones, and Jack Gilpin.

*This article has been automatically translated using artificial intelligence