The Gilded Age Trailer: Class Conflict Reigns Supreme In HBO's Glitzy Period Drama

From the creator of your favorite British period drama comes "Downton Abbey," but without the accents! Fine, I'll get specific — "Downton" creator Julian Fellowes has jumped aboard the HBO train with a new historical drama about New York City in the 1880s. Time to trade in stuffy Brits for uppity New Yorkers, according to our first glimpse at the upcoming series. Fellowes is bringing us to the big city, into yet another world where old money battles new money, as society approaches the modern age.

You might feel inclined to brush up on your history for this one, but the upcoming HBO series gives us a massive hint with just its title. "The Gilded Age" takes place in the era it's named after, the 1880s through the 1900s.

It's just after the American Civil War and before the turn of the twentieth century — the world is quickly changing and values are clashing more than ever before. In the teaser, Christine Baranski is Agnes van Rhijn, a proud and stubborn old money socialite clinging tightly to the status quo. She claims that power in New York will always belong to the old money elite, but the teaser hints that she may be proven wrong before the nine-episode season comes to an end.

You can watch the teaser trailer below!

The series follows an ensemble cast of characters navigating life in New York, including Baranski's Agnes and her sister Ada Brooks (Cynthia Nixon) who relies upon her charity. They play host to Louisa Jacobson (daughter of Meryl Streep, making her television debut) as Marian Brook, a penniless young woman sent to live with her aunts (Agnes and Ada) after the death of her father. But with no idea of the tension she's stumbling into, the rural suburban grown Marian ends up in the midst of a social war between her aunts and their wealthy, new money neighbors.

Here's how HBO describes "The Gilded Age":

The American Gilded Age was a period of immense economic change, of great conflict between the old ways and brand new systems, and of huge fortunes made and lost. Against the backdrop of this transformation, HBO's The Gilded Age begins in 1882 with young Marian Brook (Louisa Jacobson) moving from rural Pennsylvania to New York City after the death of her father to live with her thoroughly old money aunts Agnes van Rhijn (Christine Baranski) and Ada Brook (Cynthia Nixon). Accompanied by Peggy Scott (Benton), an aspiring writer seeking a fresh start, Marian inadvertently becomes enmeshed in a social war between one of her aunts, a scion of the old money set, and her stupendously rich neighbors, a ruthless railroad tycoon and his ambitious wife, George (Morgan Spector) and Bertha Russell (Carrie Coon). Exposed to a world on the brink of the modern age, will Marian follow the established rules of society, or forge her own path?

"The Gilded Age" is created and written by Fellowes, conceived back in 2012 when he was still working on seasons of "Downton Abbey." Episodes of the series are directed by Michael Engler, known for his work on "Sex and the City" and "30 Rock," as well as Salli Richardson, who helmed episodes of "Dear White People," and the upcoming Amazon series "The Wheel of Time."

"The Gilded Age" debuts January 24, 2022, at 9:00 p.m. ET, and will simultaneously be available on HBO Max.