We’re finally closing in on The Gilded Age Season 4, which is set to debut on the 2026 TV schedule on November 1st. The first trailer dropped last week, and it’s gotten me very excited for the new season. We know a few things about the show, like it will be taking place in 1885 and 1886, and some fan favorites have been promoted to full-time characters, like Ashlie Atkinson’s Mamie Fish. We also know that a lot of new actors will be joining the show. This has led me back to a potential crossover with Downton Abbey that I would love to see, and I know I’m not alone.
WARNING: There are spoilers ahead for the first three seasons of the show, so if you are behind, now is a great time to catch up with an HBO Max subscription.
Gladys Is In England, Married To A Duke
If you’re a fan of the show, you know that the Russells’ daughter Gladys (Taissa Farmiga) has become a “dollar princess,” meaning the heiress has been married off to British nobility. She brings the money and her new husband, Hector, brings the title (Duke of Buckingham). That also means Gladys is living in England. You know who else is living in England in the 1880s? Violet Crawley, the character played by the late Dame Maggie Smith in Downton Abbey. In the mid-1880s, she was Countess of Grantham. In fact, Robert Grantham, the future Earl of Grantham (played by Hugh Bonneville in Downton Abbey), would have been in his early 20s or so in the mid 1880s.
Two shows, two families, one era. Both Gladys and the Grathams are part of the British aristocracy, so there is certainly reason to believe that the characters could or would meet at some point, right? Perhaps at a debutante ball in London? Perhaps on a hunting trip to Downton? There are plenty of opportunities for Julian Fellowes (the creator of both shows) for his characters to mingle. I would love it, and I know other fans would, too. Of course, we’re not exactly sure how much, if any, of the show will be set in England, as most of the action will certainly be in New York City, so it could be tricky.
Maybe It’s All Too Obvious
I will admit that this crossover might just be too obvious. It might even come across as nothing more than fan service, which isn’t always a good thing. I get it, but I’m asking for extended scenes or recurring characters. Maybe just a little Easter egg moment when Gladys and Violet briefly meet, and we get one of Violet’s trademark barbs about the American dollar princess. Perhaps even foreshadowing the marriage of her son Robert to a dollar princess himself.
Downton Abbey and The Gilded Age are two of my favorite shows precisely because they are, for the most part, comfort food. Bad things happen, but they are rare, and mostly end up ok in the end. I just get to escape into a fantasy world (one built on real history) and forget about my troubles for a while. Violet Crawley is one of my favorite characters in TV history, so to see her return would just be cracking, as the English would say.
