You are reading an exclusive WrapPRO article for free. Want to level up your entertainment career? Go here for more information.
“The Gilded Age” returned strong with its Season 3 premiere on HBO. The Carrie Coon-led drama series delivered 2.7 million viewers in its first three days across platforms, a 27% increase from its Season 2 premiere, which gathered 2.1 million viewers in the same time period, TheWrap has learned.
The premiere episode also outperformed the Season 1 premiere by 30%, which delivered 2 million viewers, according to internal data. This is a promising start for the latest season of the drama series from Julian Fellowes and co-writer Sonja Warfield, given Seasons 1 and 2 both experienced steady growth throughout their episode rollout, attracting more than 50% more viewers than their respective premiere episodes after three days’ viewing.
Season 2 ultimately averaged 7.1 million viewers in the U.S. across HBO and Max.
‘The Gilded Age” Season 3 catches up to the Russell and Van Rhijn families after the eventful Opera society wars, which ended with Bertha (Carrie Coon) in a stronger position of power, as Agnes (Christine Baranski) found herself financially broke and at the mercy of her recently widowed sister Ada (Cynthia Nixon) following Oscar’s (Blake Ritson) business misfortune.
As power dynamics shift and relationships are tested across old and new money families, the show’s writers teased Season 3 will be a more personal overview of this beloved ensemble of characters.
“We’ve shown the balls and the operas and the blah, blah, blah, but now this is the men and women dealing with how they feel about each other,” series creator Fellowes recently told TheWrap. “We are, in a way, using this season to emphasize to the audience these are three-dimensional characters that have their own inner life.”
“In a third season of a show, that’s when you get to dive deeper into the characters and the relationships. We’re no longer establishing it,” co-writer Warfield added. “I always think of Season 3 of a series as getting to the juicy part.”
“The Gilded Age” airs Sundays on HBO and Max.
