'The Gilded Age': Christine Baranski, Cynthia Nixon join HBO series

Sept. 26 (UPI) -- HBO is unveiling its star-studded cast for The Gilded Age.

The new period drama from Downton Abbey creator Julian Fellowes will star Christine Baranski, Cynthia Nixon, Amanda Peet and Morgan Spector.

The Gilded Age is set in New York in the 1880s. The series follows Marian Brook, the orphaned daughter of a Southern general who goes to live with her aunts (Baranski and Nixon) in New York. Marian is accompanied by Peggy Scott, an African-American woman pretending to be her maid, and gets caught up in the lives of her rich neighbors.

Baranski (The Good Fight) will play Agnes van Rhijn, a proud and stubborn aristocrat who refuses to accept the world has changed. Agnes is devoted to her son Oscar, who doesn't return her affections.

Nixon (Sex and the City) will portray Agnes' sister, Ada Brook, who is living on her sister's charity. Ada is not naturally confrontational, but still capable of standing up for what she believes.

Peet (Togetherness) and Spector (Homeland) play Bertha and George Russell, a married couple determined to break into high society. Bertha comes from a middle-class background, while George is a robber baron who is ruthless in business.

NBC initially ordered The Gilded Age to series in 2018, but the show moved to HBO in May. Fellowes said he feels "very privileged" to be making the series with HBO.

"It has been a dream of mine for some time, as I am fascinated by this brutal and intensely glamorous period of America's history," he said. "It will be about ambition, of course, and envy and hatred and, perhaps most of all, about love."

The Gilded Age will have a 10-episode first season. HBO has yet to set a premiere date.