‘The Gilded Age’: Supporting Characters Not Returning For Season 4

The sprawling cast of HBO‘s period drama The Gilded Age gets larger every season. With so many characters to service, some are being taken out of rotation.

In Season 4, that will include George Russell’s (Morgan Spector) secretary Richard Clay, played by Patrick Page, and New York Globe publisher T. Thomas Fortune (Sullivan Jones). Both characters were introduced in Season 1 as recurring. Page and Jones were promoted to series regular for Season 2 before reverting to a recurring status in Season 3. It is possible that one or both are brought back in future seasons for guest appearances.

Both Richard Clay and Thomas Fortune had eventful Season 3 arcs. Clay was fired by George (Spector) for failing to close a major deal, aligned with a top rival to get back at his former boss and became a prime suspect in George’s shooting at the end of the season.

An editor of aspiring writer Peggy Scott (Denée Benton), Thomas Fortune was her mentor before he crossed a line, pursuing a romantic relationship with her in Season 2 despite being married. In Season 3, he gave Peggy another out-of-town assignment and tried to tag along uninvited until Peggy’s new suitor (and future husband) Dr. William Kirkland (Jordan Donica), stepped in and took him down in a fistfight.

New cast additions for Season 4 of The Gilded Age include Taylor Trensch, James Scully, Dennis Haysbert, Maggie Kuntz, Neal Huff, Bonnie Milligan, Jim Gaffigan, Dallas Roberts, Andrew Burnap, Elizabeth Marvel and Adrienne Warren.

They join returning cast members Spector, Carrie Coon, Christine Baranski, Cynthia Nixon, Louisa Jacobson, Harry Richardson, Denée Benton, Taissa Farmiga, Blake Ritson, Ben Ahlers, Ashlie Atkinson, Dylan Baker, Kelley Curran, Jordan Donica, Jessica Frances Dukes, Amy Forsyth, Jack Gilpin, Simon Jones, Celia Keenan-Bolger, Ben Lamb, Audra McDonald, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Debra Monk, Hattie Morahan, Donna Murphy, Kristine Nielsen, Kelli O’Hara, Taylor Richardson, Douglas Sills, Erin Wilhelmi, John Douglas Thompson, with Bill Camp and Phylicia Rashad.

Season 4, which premieres Nov. 1, is drawing a lot of interest, with its trailer amassing 43M views on YouTube alone since its release last week. The trailer raised concern among fans about Russell’s daughter Gladys (Farmiga) — now a Duchess living in England — who is not in it but she is on HBO’s list of returning cast and was featured briefly in the first Season 4 teaser.

The teaser and the trailer both end on a memorable line by Baranski’s Agnes van Rhijn. You can watch them below.

Created, written and executive produced by Julian Fellowes, The Gilded Age is also produced by director Salli Richardson-Whitfield, written and executive produced by Sonja Warfield and executive produced by Gareth Neame, David Crockett, Bob Greenblatt, Kate Churchill, Davita Scarlett and Elaine Aronson. Armstrong Dunbar and Holly Rymon serve as co-executive producers. The historical drama is a co-production between HBO and Universal Television, a division of Universal Studio Group.