Downton Abbey: Why Cora’s Family Aren’t In The Gilded Age
Warning: SPOILERS for The Gilded Age Episode 1 — «Never The New»
Fans of Downton Abbey who watched the premiere of The Gilded Age may have been surprised when the young Cora Levinson (Elizabeth McGovern) and her family didn't appear. Both historical drama series are created by Julian Fellowes, who originally planned The Gilded Age to be aDownton Abbey prequel about the courtship between Cora and her future husband, Robert Crawley (Hugh Bonneville), the 7th Earl of Grantham. As The Gilded Age underwent years of research and development, including a network switch from NBC to HBO, Fellowes changed his American-set series and its main characters.
Julian Fellowes has always been fascinated about the late 19th-century era in the United States that Mark Twain dubbed «the gilded age.» When Fellowes moved away from his direct Downton Abbey prequel idea, another early concept for The Gilded Age was making the series about the Vanderbilts. However, after his pilot script was rejected, Fellowes soon realized that making The Gilded Age about real, historical people would be limiting and problematic. Instead, as he did with Downton Abbey, Fellowes refashioned The Gilded Age to be about why Agnes van Rhijn (Christine Baranski) is steadfastly opposed to welcoming «new money» railroad tycoon George Russell (Morgan Spector) and his ambitious wife Bertha (Carrie Coon) into New York high society. Meanwhile, Agnes' niece Marian Brooks (Louisa Jacobson) and her new African-American friend Peggy Scott (Denée Benton) serve as the audience's POV character intoThe Gilded Age's world of high society.
Related: The Gilded Age Has A Secret Downton Abbey Connection
Julian Fellowes revampingThe Gilded Age explains why Cora and the Levinsons don't
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