Julian Fellowes Talks Season 1 & Possible ‘Downton Abbey’ Crossover – CB

SPOILER ALERT: The next story reveals main plot factors from the Season 1 finale of HBO’s The Gilded Age.

HBO’s The Gilded Age wrapped its debut season on Monday evening with a glamorous ball, damaged hearts, and plenty of open-ended plot factors to maintain followers guessing till the present returns.

In episode 9 titled “Let The Event Start,” Marian Brook (Louisa Jacobson) forges forward with plans to secretly marry Tom Raikes (Thomas Cocquerel) with the assistance of Peggy Scott (Denée Benton), Sylvia Chamberlain (Jeanne Tripplehorn), and her aunt Ada Brook (Cynthia Nixon) who found out what she was doing and whereas fearful, allowed Marian to comply with her coronary heart.

In a stunning shock to nobody, Marian’s different aunt Agnes van Rhijns (Christine Baranski) was proper about Mr. Raikes all alongside—he was a dud.

As Marian waited for her betrothed at Mrs. Chamberlain’s dwelling, she is met by Aurora Fane (Kelli O’Hara)—many hours into Mr. Raikes’ ghosting—who reveals the would-be groom was caught flirting shamelessly with Cissie Bingham (Katherine Romans), niece of Henry Flagler, the evening prior.

Marian finally tracks down the social climber and confirms Aurora’s suspicions. Heartbroken, Marian rushes dwelling to stop Larry Russell (Harry Richardson) from delivering letters she left for her aunts about her elopement with out a minute to spare.

After the dramatic distraction, Peggy returns to her familial dwelling in Brooklyn to unpack a few of her personal secrets and techniques. The author, it was lately revealed, was beforehand married and had a son—a baby she believed died. With the assistance of her mom Dorothy (Audra McDonald), who discovers a letter her husband Arthur (John Douglas Thompson) obtained with details about his grandson, they go away for Philadelphia, a lot to an indignant Arthur’s chagrin.

“He stole my youngster,” a heartbroken Peggy tells her mom. “And on a regular basis, he was working and sitting all the way down to dinner with us and residing a lie…My child is alive, mama, and I would like him again.”

Different notable tidbits embody Bertha Russell’s (Carrie Coon) breathtaking ball that counted with the shock attendance—although begrudgingly—of Agnes, Ada, Aurora, and even Lina Astor (Amy Forsyth). Nobody was extra happy than Ward McAllister (Nathan Lane) who will finish the evening with extra gossip than even he’ll know what to do with.

Additionally, Watson (Michael Cerveris) was noticed dashing out of the ballroom when the arrival of Flora McNeil (Rebecca Haden) and her husband are introduced. Watson and Mrs. McNeil briefly conversed in episode 8 and the trade was fairly odd. The valet had been lurking round Mrs. McNeil on the lookout for a possibility to say hey. And when he did, he launched himself as Mr. Collyer.

Collection creator, author, and government producer Julian Fellowes and co-executive producer Sonja Warfield break down the Season 1 finale, whether or not or not a Downton Abbey connection went unnoticed, and extra.

DEADLINE: All season you tease this large love for Marian, why did all of it finish in tears? May you be main into a possible connection between her and the younger Russell?

JULIAN FELLOWES: We’re by no means going to inform you what we’re going to do subsequent yr, however sure, I do really feel sorry for Marian. What I feel is fascinating about Mr. Raikes is that, for all her snobbery, Agnes noticed by means of him. Agnes knew he had a distinct agenda and that ultimately, he can be seduced by New York. That was precisely what Marian refused to see. So I hope there’s a lesson in there for somebody that it isn’t at all times the sympathetic individuals who give the appropriate recommendation.

SONJA WARFIELD: What I’ll say is: belief what males don’t what they are saying. I hope that’s Marian’s takeaway. This man talked a giant recreation however he wasn’t price it.

FELLOWES: I like that as a philosophy. I’m unsure you couldn’t say the identical about girls, actually? What individuals do is extra telling than the best way they need you to see them.

DEADLINE: What perception are you able to share into Peggy’s heartbreaking previous? It was completely surprising.

WARFIELD: Peggy’s been by means of lots. She was married and had a baby and now we’re gonna set her off in quest of that. Peggy is such a implausible character as a result of she’s an formidable, skilled Black girl in 1882, which in and of itself is a gigantic feat. I like her drive.

DEADLINE: Agnes isn’t a girl who wears her coronary heart on her sleeve however she couldn’t assist admitting she was unhappy Peggy resigned and left the home. May Agnes play a job in serving to Peggy discover her son?

WARFIELD: Agnes admires Peggy’s ambition and her drive. With Peggy and Agnes, I feel recreation acknowledges recreation. Agnes is Peggy’s champion and I really feel that Agnes has a tender spot in her coronary heart for Peggy. Whenever you watch subsequent season, you’ll see.

FELLOWES: I feel Agnes has a pure affinity for sturdy girls who’re decided to outlive, as she is. She married Mr. van Rhijn who was a bit quick within the attraction division and she or he did it to save lots of herself and her sister—and she or he doesn’t remorse it. Nonetheless, it was fairly powerful. Agnes isn’t a stranger to the place Peggy comes from. Her father was a patron of the Institute for Coloured Youth in Philadelphia (the real-life first highschool for African Individuals that later grew to become Cheyney College, the oldest HBCU), which Peggy attended. She understands her training, which that in itself is kind of fascinating to me as a result of the institute nonetheless survives.

DEADLINE: Oscar van Rhijn’s plan to woo Gladys Russell (Taissa Farmiga) appears to be in full swing. What good can come of it?

FELLOWES: The purpose we’re making with Oscar is that it was very, very tough to be homosexual in that society as a result of there was full self-induced blindness about the entire thing. No person would admit to it or that they even knew about it. But, there’s completely no cause to consider {that a} smaller proportion of society was homosexual in 1882 than it was in 1982. So that you’ve acquired this great stress that if you wish to reside within the mainstream and a part of society, you’ve acquired to cover it. You need to settle for you’re going to reside a lie all of your life.

Oscar is a kind of individuals who thinks he can reside with the compromise in a lifetime of lies—he thinks he can handle it and make it work for him. Whereas his beau John Adams (Claybourne Elder) is extra sensible and isn’t so satisfied that is a straightforward sacrifice to make. Adams is decided to be what was referred to as after I was younger, a confirmed bachelor. Though Oscar is usually fairly a humorous character, he’s additionally residing with this hideous burden that I hope we get to discover extra of.

DEADLINE: Are you able to affirm what Woman Cora’s (Elizabeth McGovern) mom Martha Levinson’s maiden identify is?

FELLOWES: We all know it wasn’t Levinson, as a result of we all know she wasn’t Jewish, her husband was. I feel all of these issues that American society was made up from totally different routes and totally different inputs and it created this distinctive society that was like nothing else on Earth, actually not within the west. I feel that’s fascinating to discover. And little question we are going to proceed to discover it in Season 2, with out giving it away now.

DEADLINE: The explanation for the query is you teased we would see a Downton Abbey connection in Season 1. Was one there?

FELLOWES: You didn’t see anybody in Season 1 that was related to Downton. That’s all I can say.