'The Gilded Age' Season 3 Mid-Season Trailer Takes Us to England

The Gilded Age crossed its mid-point of Season 3 with a triumphant staging of Gladys' wedding to the Duke of Buckingham. Much like The Buccaneers did before it, Gladys' wedding is inspired by (and pulls from) one of the most famous Gilded Age weddings of all time: Consuelo Vanderbilt to the 9th Duke of Marlborough. Their nuptials became the poster child of wealthy new-money American families marrying their daughters off to old-money titled British families who had run out of old money. The Marlborough marriage was a disaster, ending in divorce at a time when that was not the done thing. It also destroyed her parents' marriage in the process.

Series creator Julian Fellowes has always been obsessed with the marriage of moneyed Americans to the British aristocracy. Downton Abbey's origin story of the Lord and Lady Grantham is that Robert Crawley was a young fortune hunter, and Cora Levinson's parents all too happily sold her up the river along with a tiny fortune to be able to say they were the parents of a Duchess. In Downton (which is more fairy tale than The Gilded Age), Robert and Cora discover they are pretty compatible, in bed and out of it, and by the time we meet them two decades on, they are happily married with three girls. 

The Gilded Age is not being so kind here. Gladys' arrival at her new palatial estate comes immediately after the wedding. Because she fought the marriage so hard, she has no idea if she and the Duke of Buckingham can get along out of bed, let alone in it. The series will finally dig into the piece of the story Fellowes wanted to tell in the first place when The Gilded Age was first dreamed up in 2012: What the world was like for those like Cora and Robert when the wedding was over, and they had to figure out how to communicate when they come from two countries separated by a common language.

Here's the back half of the season synopsis:

Following Gladys' wedding, the Russells take their place at the head of society. But George's gambit that could revolutionize the railroad industry might just ruin him.

Across the street, the Brook household is thrown into chaos as Agnes refuses to accept Ada’s new position as lady of the house. Peggy meets a handsome doctor from Newport whose family is less than enthusiastic about her career. As all of New York hastens toward the future, their ambition may come at the cost of what they truly hold dear.

Do we have to cite the entire cast? I mean, we do it for every Downton Abbey post, so I suppose we must. Deep breath, everybody!

This season's cast includes on one side of the street Carrie Coon (Bertha), Morgan Spector (George), Harry Richardson (Larry), Taissa Farmiga (Gladys, Duchess of Buckingham), Ben Lamb (The Duke of Buckingham), Merritt Weaver (Monica O’Brien), and Hattie Morahan (Lady Sarah Vere). Also Jack Gilpin (Mr. Church), Celia Keenan-Bolger (Mrs. Bruce), Douglas Sills (M. Baudin), Rachel Pickup (Miss Andre), Erin Wilhelmi (Adelheid the Maid), and Patrick Page (Richard Clay). Kelley Curran (Bertha's former maid, now Mrs. Enid Winterton).

Across the street includes Cynthia Nixon (Ada Forte), Christine Baranski (Agnes van Rhijn), Blake Ritson (Oscar van Rhijn), and Louisa Jacobson (Marian Brook), plus Kelli O’Hara (Aurora Fane), Ward Horton (Charles Fane), Simon Jones (Mr. Bannister), Debra Monk (Mrs. Armstrong), Kristine Nielsen (Mrs. Bauer), Ben Ahlers (Jack the Footman), and Taylor Richardson (Bridget the Maid). 

Around town, there's Ashlie Atkinson (Mamie Fish), Nathan Lane (Ward McAllister), Donna Murphy (Ms. Astor), Amy Forsyth (Miss Carrie Astor), Claybourne Elder (John Adams IV), Bill Camp (J.P. Morgan), LisaGay Hamilton (Frances Ellen Watkins Harper), Michael Cumpsty (Lord Mildmay), Kate Baldwin (Nancy Adams Bell), Bobby Steggert (John Singer Sargent), Hannah Shealy (Charlotte Astor), John Ellison Conlee (Mr. Weston), Dylan Baker (Dr. Logan), Victoria Clark (Mrs. Joan Carlton), Paul Alexander Nolan (Alfred Merrick) and Andrea Martin (Madam Dashkova). 

In Newport, there's Denée Benton (Peggy), Audra McDonald (Dorothy), John Douglas Thompson (Arthur), Brian Stokes Mitchell (Pastor Fredrick), Phylicia Rashad (Elizabeth), Jordan Donica (Dr. William), Jessica Frances Dukes (Athena Trumbo), Leslie Uggams (Mrs. Ernestine Brown), and Sandra Caldwell (Ms Ellen). 

Julian Fellowes is the creator and writer of The Gilded Age, with Salli Richardson-Whitfield as co-writer. Directors David Crockett and Michael Engler split helming duties with Erica Dunbar as the historical consultant. All executive produce, along with Sonja Warfield, Gareth Neame, and Bob Greenblatt. 

The Gilded Age Season 3 continues on Sundays at 9 p.m. ET on HBO and HBO Max through mid-August.