The First Look At 'The Gilded Age' Is Lush

When Carnival Films sold firs run rights to Downton Abbey to PBS in 2010, it was never expected to be a massive hit in the U.K., let alone across the pond on American shores. But by 2012, as the show reached its zenith, the Downton production team started to see if an American-focused version was possible. Enter The Gilded Age, a prequel set in new money New York, where young ladies like Cora Levinson were trained before bringing their dowery across the pond to buy a titled husband like Robert Crawley, with a rich history but a cash-poor situation.

It's been almost a decade since that initial announcement by NBCUniversal (which happens to own Carnival Films) that it would put the show in development for ITV and NBC. Even then, that American partner seemed a long-shot fit. American broadcast is not the BBC. It might think it can do prestige costumed dramas, but its successes lie more with current set stories like This Is Us. The show understandably sat in development until ITV exited, with potential premieres moving back and back until NBC head Robert Greenblatt took himself off to HBO and brought the project with him. Greenblatt didn't last long at HBO, but the project he left behind was a far better fit for premium cable.

The Gilded Age is finally off the ground with its first trailer and images for all to see. The show's premise has significantly changed in the intervening years. The series is still set in the 1880s, but young Cora Levinson is no longer a character. Instead, fans will meet two new households, the old money van Rhijns and the new money Russells, along with the friends and family who surround them in this era of decadence and greed.