The Gilded Age season 3 review: New York’s snobs get juicier
Julian Fellowes’s New York costume drama has grown into its corsets. Season three of The Gilded Age is soapier, sillier and better than ever. It’s on Sky and NOW.
Reviewed, edited and approved by Editor-in-chief Daniel Sköld · Updated 25 October 2026
Contents
There’s a particular kind of British man who claims he never watched Downton Abbey, yet somehow knows exactly what Carson thought about electric toasters. If that’s you, I’m not judging. I’m one of you. And I have news. Julian Fellowes’s other big period drama, The Gilded Age, has spent two seasons slowly finding its feet in a ballroom. In its third, it has finally started to dance.
It’s still a show about rich people being horrible to each other over dinner invitations. That’s still the main attraction, and this time it knows it.
Premiere2022-01-24
GenreDrama
CastCarrie Coon, Morgan Spector, Louisa Jacobson, Denée Benton
Created byJulian Fellowes
Seasons4 seasons · 33 episodes
ChannelHBO
Rated15
Next episode2026-11-01 (S4 E1)
Watch onSky, NOW
77%
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Downton with a Manhattan postcode
The premise hasn’t changed since the 2022 opener. It’s 1882 and New York is awash with fresh money. Marian Brook, a young woman with no fortune to speak of, has moved in with her rigidly conventional aunts. Across the street, the ostentatiously rich newcomers are trying to buy their way into a society that would sooner choke on its soup than let them in. Peggy Scott, a Black woman who first entered the story posing as Marian’s maid, carries her own storyline, and it is often the most interesting one.
Season three keeps all that going without giving anything away. Expect scandals, marriage politics and widows reaching for temperance meetings or spiritualist mediums. And there’s the ever-present question of who gets invited where. If you want spoilers, look elsewhere. Some of these twists deserve to land with the full thud of a dropped tureen.
Old money, new money, same old snobbery
British viewers will find all of this very familiar. Swap Fifth Avenue for a Gloucestershire estate and you have the plot of half the National Trust gift shop. The old families guard their drawing rooms like a gamekeeper guarding pheasants. The new families have more cash than the Bank of England and get treated like they’ve walked mud across the Axminster.
Fellowes has been mining this seam for decades. Gosford Park and Downton were about who belongs and who merely pays. The difference in New York is that money usually wins in the end, and the old guard know it. That makes their disdain more desperate, and much funnier.
It’s a show about rich people being cruel to each other over seating plans, and that’s precisely why it works.
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Who’s in it and who made it
Fellowes created the series for HBO. It’s carried by a strong ensemble led by Carrie Coon, Morgan Spector, Louisa Jacobson and Denée Benton, with Taissa Farmiga and Harry Richardson also among the cast. Coon in particular plays social ambition like a blood sport, and she’s a big reason to keep watching. The production design remains ludicrously lavish. Every frame looks as if someone has been told the budget is a rumour.
What works, what doesn’t, and what the critics say
The first season had a habit of stopping for earnest little lectures, like a well-meaning uncle at Christmas. That has largely gone. The show now leans into the gossip, the feuds and the frocks, and is far better company for it. Peggy’s thread still brings real weight. The romance has more pulse, and the comedy is sharper.
It’s still a soap, though. Some plot turns are frankly absurd, and if you need your drama gritty, the endless parade of tea, hats and wounded pride will test you. A few characters still exist mainly to raise an eyebrow at the right moment.
Critics have been noticeably warmer this time. Paste Magazine gave season three 8.5 out of 10, called it the show’s best instalment yet, and judged it “indulgent and entertaining in all the best ways”. In Paste’s view, the series has finally learned from its earlier mistakes, and I’d agree.
Where to watch The Gilded Age in the UK
In the UK, The Gilded Age streams on Sky and NOW, which carry HBO’s dramas here. The series carries a 15 certificate. If you’re starting from scratch, the earlier seasons are worth the investment, though the first season is the slowest. Push through and you’ll be rewarded. A fourth season is also on the way, so this isn’t a dead end.
Verdict
The Gilded Age season three is the most confident and enjoyable run yet, a lavish soap that has stopped apologising for being one. It won’t convert anyone who thinks costume drama is a crime against the evening schedule. But if you secretly loved Downton, or you enjoy a good class war conducted entirely through calling cards, it’s well worth the NOW subscription.
Ashley Isaacs picks what's worth your evening – film, TV, streaming, music and books for men 45 and over with limited evenings and too many subscriptions. Reviews of what's new on Netflix, Prime Video, BBC iPlayer and the rest, crime dramas worth a weekend, and classics worth a second look. What's worth watching, what isn't, and where to find it in the UK.
One of Midcent's writers. Spotted something? Write to ashley@midcent.uk.
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