Acting alum Hannah Shealy ’23 joins the third season of HBO’s The Gilded Age as Charlotte Astor, a married heiress returned from an eventful trip abroad.
The Gilded Age is showrunner Julian Fellowes’ follow-up to Downton Abbey, and similarly follows aristocrats and their staff during a period of dramatic historical change. The baroque set, evoking nineteenth-century Manhattan, earned the show an Emmy in 2022. Its third season will air on HBO and stream on Max in 2025.
The Gilded Age is a massive ensemble show, its cast studded with theatre darlings. Tony winners Carrie Coon and Christine Baranski each garnered Emmy noms for their season two performances. The show's plots are nebulous—conflicts over opera boxes, trips to Newport—and often beside the point. The show is watched for its sets, costumes and irreverent drama.
The Gilded Age’s second season was nominated for Best Drama at the 2024 Emmys. According to Paste, the show found its footing, “gleefully jettisoning its dullest, preachiest elements in favor of even more breathtaking gowns, jaw-dropping architecture, and petty society squabbles.” Not much has been publicized about season three, but showrunners hint at even more scandal.
Hannah Shealy ’23 is an actor, singer and birth doula. She recently directed and starred in a short film Birth is for P*ssies, now in post-production. Hannah’s work has won acclaim at the San Francisco International Film Awards and at the Dark Comedy Film Festival.