Things will heat up in HBO’s “The Gilded Age” Season 2, and not just on the railroads.
As Ward McAllister (Nathan Lane) escorts Bertha Russell (Carrie Coon) to some sort of social event, his voiceover reminds viewers that Bertha has almost everything she could ever want.
“Mrs. Russell, you conquered New York,” Lane’s McAllister says at the beginning of the clip released by Max Wednesday morning. “You dine in the best houses. But are you sure it’s wise to start the war with New York society? Aren’t you asking for trouble?”
“Yes, and you’ll need to pick a team,” Coon’s Russell responds. “Head-to-head and one will be the winner.”
Season 2 of Julian Fellowes’ (“Downton Abbey”) latest drama series arrives on HBO and Max Oct. 29 with the first episode premiering at 9 p.m. ET and PT followed by a weekly rollout.
The official logline reads “Season two of ‘The Gilded Age’ begins on Easter morning 1883, with the news that Bertha Russell’s bid for a box at the Academy of Music has been rejected. Through the eight episodes of the season, we watch as Bertha challenges Mrs. Astor and the old system and works to not only gain a foothold in Society but to potentially take a leading role in it. George Russell takes on his battle with a growing union at his steel plant in Pittsburgh. In the Brook House, Marian continues her journey to find her way in the world secretly teaching at a girls school while much to everyone’s surprise Ada begins a new courtship. Of course, Agnes approves of none of it. In Brooklyn, the Scott family begins to heal from a shocking discovery, and Peggy taps into her activist spirit through her work with T. Thomas Fortune at the NY Globe.”
Last season left off with Jacobson’s Marian Brook narrowly escaping a proposal and elopement with a dreamer of a man who couldn’t follow through. It looks like Mr. George Russell (Morgan Spector) will also face trouble on the railroads he has turned into an empire.
In addition to Coon and Lane, the ensemble cast of the sprawling historical television series includes Christine Baranski Cynthia Nixon, Morgan Spector, Louisa Jacobson, Denée Benton, Ben Ahlers, Michael Cerveris, Kelley Curran, Taissa Farmiga, Jack Gilpin, Simon Jones, Sullivan Jones, Celia Keenan-Bolger, Debra Monk, Donna Murphy, Kristine Nielsen, Kelli O’Hara, Patrick Page, Harry Richardson, Taylor Richardson, Blake Ritson, Douglas Sills, Erin Wilhelmi, Nathan Lane, Audra McDonald, John Douglas Thompson, Ashlie Atkinson, Laura Benanti, Nicole Brydon Bloom, Christopher Denham, David Furr, Ward Horton, Matilda Lawler and Robert Sean Leonard.
Executive produced by Gareth Neame as well as director David Crockett, and produced by Michael Engler, the show is also executive produced by Bob Greenblatt, Salli Richardson-Whitfield and writer Sonja Warfield. “The Gilded Age” is a co-production between HBO and Universal Television.