Julian Fellowes’ new period drama The Gilded Age arrives on UK screens today (Tuesday 25th January) but he’s already started work on a potential second season.
The Downton Abbey creator’s latest project has been in the works for years, but if HBO renews it for another season, it sounds like fans shouldn’t have to wait as long for the next instalment.
Radio Times magazine recently revealed that Fellowes has begun work on a follow-up even though HBO won’t officially renew it until the first season airs.
Speaking to press including RadioTimes.com, director Salli Richardson-Whitfield said “there are all sorts of ideas and dreams” for another season.
“The truth is, we’re always getting the second season ready long before we know whether it goes ahead or not,” executive producer Gareth Neame added. “Because, you know, the moment we know we’re going ahead, we have to start – the cameras have to start rolling. So you sort of have to prepare.
“So we’re already underway with ideas for the second season.”
Fellowes is hoping the series, set in New York City in the late 19th century, connects with audiences in the UK as well as the US.
“You can never assume that period drama is going to have an audience,” he told Radio Times. “But The Gilded Age has a kind of Wild West twang to it that I hope appeals to audiences everywhere.”
Neame also spoke about the difference between creating for the first season and the second.
“The difference between a first season and a second season is that the writer is creating and writing characters who just exist on the page, when you’re writing a first season. With a second season, all of those apart from new characters, the existing characters have all been created, they exist,” he said.
“They’re, they’re a combination of the words on the page and the performance of the actor. And so you start to see this alchemy between the actor, the director and the writer as the show goes on. And I think that is why audiences form and build a real relationship with characters as they go on.”
Find out more about the show by reading our The Gilded Age review.
The Gilded Age arrives on Sky Atlantic and NOW on Tuesday 25th January. Check out more of our Drama coverage or visit our TV Guide to see what’s on tonight.