‘The Gilded Age’ writer Sonja Warfield dishes on season 2

It’s time to return to The Gilded Age. The soapy, escapist Julian Fellowes drama is back for season 2, Sunday, October 29, on HBO. Sonja Warfield writes the show alongside Fellowes, and she’s also an executive producer, and tells ABC Audio everything this season is “bigger and better and more decadent.”

“We really wanted to dive into the romance this season. So there are a bunch of different romances. There’s love, there’s heartbreak, there is forbidden romance, forbidden love,” she adds.

When it comes to 1880s America, there are a lot more similarities between then and now than you might think. Warfield agrees, explaining, “We’re in a time right now … where we have these, you know, mega wealthy people, and then there’s just this income inequality. And so when you have that, you’re going to have strikes because the people who are the workers who are not getting paid enough and their income isn’t matching with inflation and the times are going to rise up and ask for more.”

Season 2 also takes a deeper dive into the racial politics and misogyny and class inequality of the time, because she says it’s important not to romanticize the era.

“Yeah, it was not great for women. It was not great for black people. It was not great if you didn’t have money. You know, it was great for the patriarchy,” she shares. “What I like about the Gilded Age is that it is a sort of more genteel time, Right? So there’s like a kindness about the show. And it’s Julian Fellowes. So we know we’re not going to see anything too grotesque or too blue.”