The Gilded Age Season 4 doesn’t premiere until this fall on HBO, but there’s plenty of information about the new season available already. Here, we’re focusing on some casting changes and what they could mean for the upcoming season. Three characters, two of which have been in the show since Season 1, have been promoted series regulars in The Gilded Age Season 4, meaning we’re going to see a lot more of them.
Jordan Donica (Dr. William Kirkland), Ashlie Atkinson (Mamie Fish), and Kelley Curran (Enid Winterton, formerly known as Enid Turner) will be series regulars in The Gilded Age Season 4. William and his parents, played by Phylicia Rashad and Brian Stokes Mitchell, were introduced in Season 3, while Mrs. Fish and Turner/Mrs. Winterton have been in the series since the very beginning.
Here’s what their promotions could mean.
Peggy and William’s relationship is evolving
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Peggy Scott (Denée Benton) and William met and fell in love in Season 3. Their relationship faced some conflict, such as Mrs. Kirkland’s (Rashad) colorism and judgment of Mr. Scott (John Douglas Thompson) being born into slavery.
Peggy’s career ambitions also made Mrs. Kirkland doubt if she had time to be a wife, and then things reached a tipping point when her first marriage, which was annulled, and her late child were revealed. But these were obstacles the couple was willing to work through, even with some difficult conflicts in the process.
William proposed to Peggy at a glamorous ball at the end of Season 3, but we didn’t see her answer. The logline (season description) for Season 4 reveals that Peggy said yes.
“Bertha Russell changed Society at a cost,” it reads. “Now, her family must reckon with the consequences as Agnes van Rhijn seizes an opportunity to regain her position. Meanwhile, Marian forges a new path for herself, and Peggy works to be accepted by her future in-laws. In this new era, you must be careful what you wish for.”
So, the Kirklands are now Peggy’s future in-laws, which hopefully means we’ll get to see another fabulous Gilded Age wedding, and the first wedding we’ll have seen in the Black Elite plot of the show. With Donica as a series regular, Peggy and William’s relationship is clearly going to be even more important this season.
A new character, played by Dennis Haysbert, implies that William’s career will be a continued focus as well. He helped save George when he was shot in Season 3’s penultimate episode.
Haysbert as Dr. Reginald Harris, William’s mentor, who visits New York to fundraise for the Freedman’s Hospital in Washington, D.C., and makes a surprising connection.
Are Enid and Oscar getting married?
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After the tragic, sudden death of his lover, John Adams (Claybourne Elder), in Season 3, Oscar van Rhijn (Blake Ritson) was left unmoored and grieving. He was also trying to rebuild his finances and career after being scammed into giving away his mother, Agnes’ (Christine Baranski), family fortune in Season 2.
Mrs. Enid Winterton was widowed by the end of Season 3. After being fired from her position as Bertha Russell’s (Carrie Coon) maid in Season 1 for trying to seduce George (Morgan Spector), Enid made it into high society by marrying a rich older man.
Oscar and Enid have had a secret alliance since the first season and knew each other’s secrets. At the end of Season 3, Oscar proposed a marriage of convenience that would give both of them the freedom they craved.
Agnes is seizing an opportunity to regain her position in Manhattan society in Season 4, per the logline. Could Oscar marrying Enid and joining his family with the Winterton wealth be part of that equation?
With Ward McAllister ousted, is Mrs. Fish the new gossip queen bee?
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Just like in real life, Ward McAllister (Nathan Lane) published a book in Season 3 that aired out high-society gossip, enraging Mrs. Astor (Donna Murphy) and breaking their longtime friendship. With Ward cast out of her life, will the gossip-loving Mamie Fish take his place at Mrs. Astor’s side?
Mamie was present for much of the drama involving Aurora Fane (Kelli O’Hara) in Season 3, who was shunned from society because of her divorce. Mrs. Astor’s own daughter was bound for divorce as well, and Mamie warned the powerful figure that she couldn’t cast out Aurora without doing the same to her daughter, should the time come.
Bertha’s ball, which she hosted in Mrs. Astor’s place (and by Mrs. Astor’s request), welcomed divorced women. With her marriage with George on the rocks, Bertha may have been laying the groundwork for herself to be accepted back into society if/when she and George split for good.
One newcomer in Season 4 could be an interesting addition to this storyline. Maggie Kuntz plays Fiona Summers, a cousin to the prominent Astors. Fiona is a free-spirited young woman from a good family who is not afraid to explore the limits of convention.
The Gilded Age, Season 4 Premiere, Fall 2026, HBO