‘The Gilded Age’ Is Serving Up Ambition and Shame in Season 4 Return

*The Gilded Age* has returned with a season four premiere that puts ambition, shame and strained relationships at the centre of its story. The episode opens with Gladys giving birth in England and Oscar marrying Enid, an unexpected wedding that creator Julian Fellowes says was intended to surprise viewers and reintroduce the ensemble.

The season will test marriages, romances, family ties and the characters’ hopes of moving up socially. Newly wealthy Jack is unsure how much he wants to follow society’s rules, while George Russell faces a business crisis and continued estrangement from Bertha after last season’s events; the premiere also hints that investigators may have found his would-be assassin.