Anna Daniels
Carrie Coon, one of those performers who is good in literally anything, is replacing Amanda Peet as one of the leads of HBO’s The Gilded Age. Peet had to drop out due to scheduling issues, and now Coon will take over her part in the period drama from Downton Abbey creator Julian Fellowes. The cast also includes Christine Baranski, Cynthia Nixon, Taissa Farmiga, and more, all of whom will no doubt look great in their period-appropriate costumes.
Deadline has the news on Carrie Coon joining The Gilded Age. Coon will be playing Bertha Russell, who “comes from the ordinary middle class. She backed her instincts when she set out to catch her husband George, the son of a merchant family who has proved to be a financial genius. She is determined to use her money and position to break into a society that resists change at every turn.”
Here’s the show’s synopsis, directly from HBO:
In 1882, against the backdrop of the American Gilded Age, a period of immense economic change when huge fortunes were made and lost, Marian Brook, the orphaned daughter of a Union general, moves into the home of her rigidly conventional aunts in New York City.
Accompanied by the mysterious Peggy Scott, an African-American woman masquerading as her maid, Marian gets caught up in the dazzling lives of her stupendously rich neighbors, as she struggles to decide between adhering to the established rules of society, or forging her own path in a new world on the brink of transformation.
Other cast members include Christine Baranski as Agnes van Rhijn, “a proud and stubborn aristocrat who will never accept that the world has changed, and that ancient values are being replaced by new ones. She found herself penniless as her parents’ fortune was foundering, even before the war, but she managed to catch a husband just in time. Agnes has a son named Oscar, whom she worships, but her worship is not returned.”
Cynthia Nixon as Ada Brook, “who unlike her sister, never found a husband, and was forced to rely on Agnes’ charity. She is not naturally confrontational, but she is capable of standing up for what she believes.”
And Taissa Farmiga as Gladys Russell, “a classic, innocent and lovely child of the rich who wants to be out in society meeting suitable young men. She doesn’t really know how her father made his money, and she doesn’t much care, but she is used to it and wouldn’t know what to do without it. Her mother uses her as a tool for her own ambition and forces her toward socially advantageous situations.”
Julian Fellowes, best known for creating, writing and executive-producing Downton Abbey, is the creator, writer and executive producer on the series.
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