"Downton" creator to produce "Gilded Age"

Is America ready for prime time costume drama?

Published November 28, 2012 2:00PM (EST)

Highclere Castle in Newbury, UK is the main setting for the ITV period drama "Downton Abbey" (dutourdumonde / Shutterstock.com)
Highclere Castle in Newbury, UK is the main setting for the ITV period drama "Downton Abbey" (dutourdumonde / Shutterstock.com)

A certain type of TV viewer is in acute withdrawal until season three of "Downton Abbey" premieres on Yankee shores in January. But is that period soap just too foreign for a mass American audience?  Yesterday, NBC announced that "Abbey" showrunner Julian Fellowes will be creating "The Gilded Age" for American audiences. The NBC Universal produced show promises to deliver the opulence of Edith Wharton's New York.

The New York Times points out that Fellowes visited Edith Wharton's estate in Lenox Hill, Mass., "who will surely guide" the drama. "This was a vivid time,” Fellowes said. “With dizzying, brilliant ascents and calamitous falls, of record-breaking ostentation and savage rivalry; a time when money was king.”

NBC has not announced when "The Gilded Age" will air and Fellowes, hedging his bets, will also producing a fourth season of "Downton Abbey."


By Prachi Gupta

Prachi Gupta is an Assistant News Editor for Salon, focusing on pop culture. Follow her on Twitter at @prachigu or email her at pgupta@salon.com.

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Downton Abbey Drama Dramas Julian Fellowes Nbc Television Tv