When Downton Abbey first came out on PBS, in 2010, no one expected what a hit the show would be. Six seasons long, the British period drama created by Julian Fellowes lasted for five years and inspired two sequel movies: the first one, titled simply Downton Abbey, was released in 2019, and the second, Downton Abbey: A New Era, is set to come out in 2022. Now, Fellowes is back to the world of the old-timey rich in his newest HBO series, The Gilded Age, which focuses on the comings and goings of the New York aristocracy after the end of the Civil War.
The show’s first episode came out on January 24, and, over the course of its hour and 20 minutes runtime, introduced audiences to an ensemble cast so extensive that it could make even the most well-informed society ladies faint from confusion. To help you make the most out of this tour of the 19th century New York upper-class, here’s a list to all the main characters in the show’s universe and the actors that portray them.
Marian Brook (Louisa Jacobson)
Miss Ada Brook and Mrs. Van Rhijn’s niece, who is all but forced to move in with her estranged aunts after finding out that her recently deceased father wasted the family’s money. Marian is a strong-minded young woman from Pennsylvania who can’t quite understand the unspoken rules of New York’s high society.
Louisa Jacobson is relatively new to the screen, having been only in the 2019 TV movie Gone Hollywood before starring in The Gilded Age. She has an MFS in acting from Yale University and portrayed Juliet in a 2019 Globe production of Romeo and Juliet.
Ada Brook (Cynthia Nixon)
Marian’s spinster aunt, who reaches out to her niece upon finding out about her financial troubles. Despite being generally warmer and less strict than her sister, Ada still adheres to the traditional rules of New York’s high society, shutting out new money families such as the Russells.
Cynthia Nixon is best known for playing Miranda Hobbes in HBO’s Sex and the City, as well as in the show’s two spin-off movies and its miniseries revival, …And Just Like That. In 1998, she won an Emmy for her work in Sex and the City, and, in 1999, she took home the prize for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series for an episode of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. Most recently, she has also appeared as press secretary Gwendolyn Briggs in Netflix’s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest prequel series, Ratched. Nixon also has a political career, having run in the Democratic Party’s primaries for governor of the state of New York in 2018.
Agnes Van Rhijn (Christine Baranski)
Having been forced into marriage after her brother sold all the families’ properties and left her penniless, Mrs. Van Rhijn is initially opposed to having Marian in her home, especially considering she still has Ada to take care of. Now a widow with a fully grown son, Agnes is a strict, elitist woman, with no shred of sympathy for those that don’t share her background - a quality that puts her at odds with her niece.
Christine Baranski is best known for portraying one of Meryl Streep’s two girlfriends in Mamma Mia! and Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again, as well as for her role as lawyer Diane Lockhart in CBS’ The Good Wife and CBS All Access’ The Good Fight. She has also been in movies like Chicago and Into the Woods.
George Russell (Morgan Spector)
Railroad tycoon George Russell is a ruthless businessman who moves across the street from the Van Rhijn’s at the behest of his wife, Bertha.
Morgan Spector is best known for his various roles in shows like CBS’ Person of Interest, Showtime’s Homeland, HBO’s Boardwalk Empire, and The Plot Against America.
Bertha Russell (Carrie Coon)
George’s wife dreams of being accepted into high society. She spares no effort or money to build herself and her family an enormous mansion on 61st Street, designed by real-life architect Stanford White (John Sanders), and to introduce her son, Larry, to the crème de la crème of New York City's aristocracy. Unfortunately, the high society ladies aren’t as eager to take her in as she is to make herself known.
Carrie Coon is best known for playing Nick Dunne’s (Ben Affleck) sister Margo in David Fincher’s Gone Girl, Thanos’ adoptive daughter Proxima Midnight in Avengers: Infinity War, and journalist Meg Greenfield in Steven Spielberg’s The Post. Coon has also been in shows like Netflix’s The Sinner, HBO’s The Leftovers, and FX’s Fargo.
Larry Russell (Harry Richardson)
George and Bertha’s son, Larry has just finished college and is making himself known in the New York high society. He becomes smitten by Marian after saving the Van Rhijn’s dog from being run over by a carriage.
Harry Richardson made his onscreen acting debut in the 2015 movie Looking for Grace. Since then, he has appeared in Christopher Nolan’s Dunkirk, BBC’s Poldark, and the Australian political drama Total Control.
Peggy Scott (Denée Benton)
Peggy is the show’s window into the burgeoning Black bourgeoisie of 19th century Brooklyn. An aspiring writer estranged from her family, Peggy helps Marian get to New York after her purse is stolen at the train station. Later, she takes on a job at the Van Rhijn residence as Mrs. Van Rhijn’s personal secretary.
Like Jacobson and Richardson, Denée Benton is a relative newcomer to the acting world. Her credits include the Lifetime series UnREAL and the 2019 movie The Friend.
Oscar Van Rhijn (Blake Ritson)
Agnes’ only son and heir to the Van Rhijn fortune who’s recently arrived from Europe and is secretly involved with John Adams.
Blake Ritson is best known for playing Brainiac in SyFy’s Krypton and for his role as the Duke of Kent in the 2010 BBC drama Upstairs Downstairs, a sequel to the classic 70s British show of the same name that served as an inspiration to Downton Abbey. He has also been in Guy Ritchie’s Rock’n’Rolla, in Starz’s DaVinci’s Demons, and in the Channel 4 miniseries World Without End, based on the Ken Follet novel of the same name.
Gladys Russell (Taissa Farmiga)
George and Bertha’s mousy teenage daughter, Gladys is eager to take her place in society. However, her mother insists on treating her like a child.
Taissa Farmiga is well known to horror fans, having starred in the Murder House, Coven, and Apocalypse seasons of FX’s American Horror Story, as well as in The Nun and in the Iowa storyline of Quibli’s anthology horror series 50 States of Fright. She has also been in Clint Eastwood’s The Mule, Warren Beatty’s Rules Don’t Apply, and was a member of Sofia Coppola’s teenage gang in The Bling Ring.
Dorothy Scott (Audra McDonald)
Peggy’s mother, who wants nothing more than to see her daughter back home and in good terms with her father.
In 2013, Audra McDonald appeared in an episode of The Good Wife as Alicia Florrick’s (Julianna Margulies) former law school rival Liz Lawrence, a role she reprised throughout all seasons of The Good Fight. Film-wise, McDonald has been in movies like the Aretha Franklin biopic Respect and Disney’s live-action remake of Beauty and the Beast. However, where McDonald truly shines is on stage: the actress is a six-time Tony Award winner, having received the trophy for her roles in productions of Carousel, Ragtime, and A Raisin in the Sun, among others. McDonald is also a Grammy-winning classical singer.
Arthur Scott (John Douglas Thompson)
Peggy’s father, Arthur is a former slave who became a pharmacist in New York and is often at odds with his daughter.
Like Audra McDonald, John Douglas Thompson is best known for his theater work, having recently been in a Broadway production of King Lear. In 2017, he was nominated for a Tony for his work on Jitney. On-screen, Thompson has played Chief Carter in HBO Max’s Mare of Easttown and had minor roles in shows like Law & Order: Special Victims Unit and Person of Interest, as well as in movies such as The Bourne Legacy and A Most Violent Year.
Caroline Astor (Donna Murphy)
Real-life socialite Caroline Astor is probably the most well-known nowadays for being one of the most high-profile survivors of the Titanic. In The Gilded Age, however, she is shown decades before the tragedy as the gatekeeper of New York’s high society, whose favor Bertha Russell aims to win.
Donna Murphy has appeared in shows like HBO Max’s Gossip Girl, PBS’ Mercy Street, and ABC’s Resurrection, as well as in minor roles in The Mentalist, Ugly Betty, and CSI, among others. In the movies, she has been in The Nanny Diaries, The Bourne Legacy, Spider-Man 2, The Fountain, and World Trade Center. Her most famous role, however, is probably Mother Goethel, whom she voiced both in the Tangled movie and in the spin-off Disney Channel series.
Carrie Astor (Amy Forsyth)
Mrs. Astor’s daughter, whom Larry befriends on a trip to Mrs. Fish (Ashlie Atkinson) Newport home.
Recently, Amy Forsyth has starred in the thriller The Novice and appeared in Apple TV+’s critically acclaimed original movie CODA. Like Taissa Farmiga, the actress is well-known to horror fans, having been in movies like Hell Fest and A Christmas Horror Story, as well as in the SyFy show Channel Zero.
John Adams (Claybourne Elder)
John Quincy Adams’ great-grandson, who’s secretly having an affair with Oscar Van Rhijn.
Claybourne Elder’s only other recurring role in a TV show has been in The CW’s Sex and the City prequel series The Carrie Diaries, in which he played Maggie’s (Katie Findlay) romantic interest, Pete. He has also been in the 2021 romantic comedy Bad Cupid.
Sylvia Chamberlain (Jeanne Triplehorn)
A philanthropist and patron of the arts with a mysterious past that excludes her from the New York aristocracy.
Jeanne Triplehorn had a prolific film career in the 90s, having been in the erotic thriller Basic Instinct, in the law thriller The Firm, in the sci-fi adventure Waterworld, and in the mafia comedy Mickey Blue Eyes. She is also known for playing matriarch Barb Henrickson in the HBO drama Big Love. Most recently, she portrayed Phyllis Schlafly’s (Cate Blanchett) sister-in-law Eleanor in the FX miniseries Mrs. America.
Aurora Fane (Kelli O’Hara)
Agnes Van Rhijn’s niece by marriage, Mrs. Fane is one of the most important members of the New York high society.
Kelli O’Hara is best known for her roles in Sex and the City 2, CBS’ crime drama Numbers, and Netflix’s teen drama 13 Reasons Why.
Cornelius Eckhard (Bill Irwin)
A man from Ada’s past that comes back into her life after the Civil War pulled them apart.
Bill Irwin is best known for playing Dr. Peter Lindstrom in Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Cary Loudermilk in FX’s Legion, and Lou Lou Who in the 2000 version of How the Grinch Stole Christmas. He’s also an accomplished theater actor, having won a Tony Award for his role in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?. In 2022, he’s also set to appear on Hulu’s Theranos scandal-inspired series The Dropout.
The cast also includes Simon Jones as the Van Rhijn’s butler, Bannister; Jack Gilpin as Bannister’s counterpart in the Russell household, Church; Katie Finnerman as socialite Anne Morris; Linda Edmond as real-life nurse Clara Barton, founder of the American Red Cross; Thomas Cocquerel as Pennsylvania lawyer Tom Raikes; Kelley Curran as Mrs. Russell’s ambitious maid, Turner; and Michael Cerveris as Mr. Russell’s mysterious valet, Watson.
New episodes of The Gilded Age come out every Monday, on HBO and HBO Max.