Agnes’s sister Ada Forte (Nixon) is stepping into a more independent chapter, trading her role as the family’s steadying influence for a willingness to take risks. She’s now “walking a tightrope and playing with fire,” Nixon said. “I thought, wow, are we really going to go there? I guess we are!”
Love remains complicated for Marian Brook (Jacobson) and Larry Russell (Harry Richardson). Their engagement is over, but feelings remain. “There’s deeper heartbreak than before,” Richardson said. “Larry desperately wants to be with her, but there are so many societal pressures keeping them apart. He’s stumbling and fumbling, and I think that’s quite relatable.”
Marian’s perspective, however, reflects the restrictive social codes of her era. “The expectations for women in 1886, particularly around sexuality and purity, were very, very different,” Jacobson said. “I knew that audiences would have a strong reaction to Marian’s actions, but it made perfect sense to me when I did the research.”
Not every relationship is built on love. Last season, Oscar van Rhijn (Blake Ritson) proposed a marriage of convenience to the newly widowed Enid Winterton (Curran), trading connections and status for her money. Their union promises to challenge society’s conventions further in season 4, fitting for a character who has never been afraid to ruffle feathers. “I’ve been called a hussy in the grocery store!” Curran said with a laugh.
Fan favorite Jack Trotter (Ahlers) is adjusting to life among Manhattan’s elite after selling his clock invention. Having once served the very society he now moves among, Jack must learn its rules. “I had to learn the proper etiquette myself,” Ahlers said. “You see me stepping into this character and Jack stepping into his life in tandem.”
Beyond Manhattan’s old-money dynasties, The Gilded Age shines a light on a thriving Black elite whose stories have rarely been told on television. McDonald, who plays society matriarch Dorothy Scott, is proud that the series showcases more than suffering. “We didn’t just go from slavery to Jim Crow to the ’60s. We’re showing Black excellence, Black joy, and Black love.”
