‘Spectacular!’: The Gilded Age racks up rave reviews

The Gilded Age premiered on Sky Atlantic on Tuesday and viewers were left raving about Downton Abbey creator Julian Fellowes’ new show.

One elated fan took to Twitter to declare it ‘a 19th century Gossip Girl’, while another branded the show – which explores the lives of American aristocrats in the 1880s – ‘spectacular’.

The Gilded Age boasts an all-star cast including Cynthia Nixon, Carrie Coon, Taissa Farmiga and Meryl Streep’s daughter Louisa Jacobson, so it’s no wonder viewers’ reactions have been so ecstatic.

After just one episode of the new series, which is set in New York during a period of huge economic change, one social media user gushed: ‘The Gilded Age is SO good!’

Another added: ‘Well The Gilded Age was a feast,’ with a third echoing: ‘Absolutely loved the first episode of The Gilded Age.’

A fourth wrote: ‘The Gilded Age is good. I’ll be back next week.’

‘I really liked the Gilded Age,’ added a fifth while a sixth exclaimed: ‘The Gilded Age is SPECTACULAR. That is all.’

Wow: The Gilded Age boasts an all-star cast including Cynthia Nixon, Carrie Coon, Taissa Farmiga and Meryl Streep’s daughter Louisa Jacobson (pictured: Christine and Cynthia Nixon in promo imagery)

Another fan declared that they were ‘so in love’ with the show and a seventh noted: ‘The Gilded Age is sooooooo good. I’ve been craving this for a while now, ever since Downton Abbey ended.’

Other comments included: ‘I really enjoyed the first episode of The Gilded Age’, and ‘The Gilded Age is dreamy so far!’

The series tells the story of aspiring writer Marian Brook (Louisa Jacobson) who moves from Pennsylvania to New York to live with her wealthy aunts Agnes van Rhijn (Christine Baranski) and Ada Brook (Cynthia Nixon).

Loving it: After just one episode of the new series, which is set in New York during a period of huge economic change, one social media user gushed: ‘The Gilded Age is SO good!’

Peggy Scott (Denée Benton) and Marian become embroiled in a social war involving one of her aunts and her railroad tycoon neighbour George (Morgan Spector) and his wife Bertha Russell (Carrie Coon).

Ahead of the show’s launch, Sky bosses teased: ‘Exposed to a world on the brink of the modern age, will Marian follow the established rules of society, or forge her own path?’

Fellowes’ latest endeavour is years in the making after he began working on a Downton Abbey spin-off in September 2012.

The writer told RadioTimes.com in January 2016 the he was ‘hopefully shooting at the end of the year’ despite not having written the script just yet.

When asked about the status of the show in June 2016, Fellowes admitted he was ‘up to my neck in research’ creating the character.

‘These people were extraordinary. You can see why they frightened the old guard, because they saw no boundaries,’ he told The Los Angeles Times. 

‘They wanted to build a palace, they built a palace. They wanted to buy a yacht, they bought a yacht. And the old guard in New York weren’t like that at all, and suddenly this whirlwind of couture descended on their heads.

Teaser: Ahead of the show’s launch, Sky bosses teased: ‘Exposed to a world on the brink of the modern age, will Marian follow the established rules of society, or forge her own path?’

‘They redesigned being rich. They created a rich culture that we still have—people who are rich are rich in a way that was established in America in the 1880s, ’90s, 1900s. It was different from Europe.’

Fellowes noted that The Gilded Age was ‘the fulfilment of a personal dream’ after final confirmation the show would be on NBC in January 2018.

HBO acquired the series more than one year later and ordered a straight to series with production announced in September 2019.

The pandemic set back filming by a year, with cameras finally rolling in February 2021.

Set backs: The pandemic set back filming by a year, with cameras finally rolling in February 2021