Julian Fellowes teases Gilded Age and Downton Abbey Crossover
The Gilded Age drops on 25 January and creator Julian Fellowes has already got Downton Abbey fans in turmoil. In an interview with Deadline, Fellowes, the writer and producer of both shows, teased a possible Downton-Gilded crossover, a Gilded Abbey if you will.
"I've learned this much, never say never. I'll stick with that as my answer," Fellowes told Deadline. And just like that, the fans are in need of smelling salts.
Could the creator have just been pulling our legs or is there a real possibility that the two shows are interconnected? Here's how a crossover could work...
Could Cora Crawley be related to the Russell family?
The most obvious connection to the Gilded world is certainly Cora Crawley (neè Levinson, played by Elizabeth McGovern). The American heiress married Robert Crawley, the Earl of Grantham (Hugh Bonneville) in 1890, becoming the Countess of Grantham.
Though born in Cincinnati, Cora has very strong links to the Big Apple. She and her family moved to New York before she married and are in fact 'new money'. Why is this important? Because much of the contention in the show The Gilded Age comes from the social war between old and new money.
As 'old-money' Agnes van Rhijn (Christine Baranski) says:
"New York is a collection of villages. The old have been in charge since the revolution until the new people invaded."
She drips with disdain and has a tongue as sharp as Downton's Dowager Countess – we love it.
The divide is perfectly illustrated when new-money aristocrat Mrs Bertha Russell (Carrie Coon) eagerly tries to climb the social ladder. The likes of her neighbour Mrs van Rhijn, as well as Aurora Fane (Kelli O’Hara) and Anne Morris (Katie Finneran), however, make it nearly impossible for her to break into high society.
While a familial connection between Cora and Bertha may be a bit of a stretch, it isn’t difficult to imagine that being shunned by high society could have led to a friendship between the wealthy families.
Cora's mother Martha Levinson (Shirley MacLaine) and brother Harold Levinson (Paul Giamatti) were still living in New York during the run of Downton Abbey. Martha Levinson has learnt how to navigate through high society and so again it's easy to imagine Mrs Russell leaning on her for some wisdom from time to time.
Is a Downton Abbey and Gilded Age crossover possible? Let’s check the timelines
The Gilded Age is set in 1882, and though we don't know what years the series will expand into we can assume with a name like 'gilded age' it will be covering if not all, then a large portion of that era and possibly beyond.
If you're not sure when that was, hang tight for a quick history lesson with a little Downton thrown in.
The gilded era began around 1870, post Civil War, and continued up until the turn of the 20th Century. Downton Abbey's debut season is set between 1912 and 1914, meaning it just misses the Gilded window. Or does it? Don't throw that baby out with the bathwater just yet. There are still two possible, very plausible ways fans could get their Gilded Abbey.
While it's not possible to see the Downton Abbey characters we know and love from 1912 and beyond, a younger version of them may yet roam around the streets of New York in 1882. We've already established that Cora and her family were living in New York before she married Robert in 1890. This of course means that they would exist at the same time and in the same social circles that Mrs Russell is chomping at the bit to break into. If they don’t know each other yet, they could very well form an alliance later on down the line.
Not much is said about how Robert and Cora courted but a few trips back and forth from Yorkshire make exceptional sense. Especially since the Crawley fortune had almost dried up and they were banking on the Levinsons' money to save the estate. Robert would have had to pull out all the moves in the 19th-century playbook to convince the Levinsons to part with Cora's fortune. A handful of visits is the very least the Earl of Grantham could offer – if the coin purse would stretch.
However, if a Downton expat in New York is not on the cards is it possible we’ve already seen a Gilded Age character appear in Downton Abbey? This initially seems a bit of a stretch, but with countless soirees, balls and coming out parties, an aristocrat from across the pond becomes more and more likely.
The Gilded Age airs on Tuesday, 25 January on Sky Atlantic as well as the streaming service NOW.
Downton Abbey The Movie is available to buy on digital, DVD and Blu-ray now. Downton Abbey: A New Era will be released in cinemas on 18 March, 2022.
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