“The Gilded Age” Gets Season 4 Renewal Amidst ‘Bury Your Gays’ Trope

It’s official. The highly enjoyable The Gilded Age will be returning for season 4. However, the news feels bittersweet considering what transpired in the most recent episode.

SPOILER WARNING: This article talks about a particular incident that occurred in The Gilded Age Season 3 Episode 6. You have been warned!

As someone who has been covering the currently airing season 3 of The Gilded Age over on The Geekiary’s YouTube channel, I had been wondering about the show’s future because only two more episodes are left. The finale for the third chapter is set to air on August 10, 2025, and while that’s disappointing as a fan, I’m happy because I know that won’t be the last time I will get to see the cast of characters.

According to Deadline, the show has been experiencing an estimated season-to-season viewership increase of 20%. Considering the type of content market we live in, a show gaining viewers, especially being three seasons in, is unheard of.

Created by Julian Fellowes (Downton Abbey), the narrative follows a handful of families living in 1880s New York. Along with giving us a lot of camp and beautiful costumes, the show talks about old vs. new money, racism, sexism, queer representation, and so much more.

The cast includes Carrie Coon, Morgan Spector, Louisa Jacobson, Denée Benton, Taissa Farmiga, Harry Richardson, Blake Ritson, Cynthia Nixon, Christine Baranski, and so much more wonderful talent.

The third season focused on Bertha (Coon) planning Glayd’s (Farmiga) wedding to Hector Vere, the 5th Duke of Buckingham (Ben Lamb). Peggy (Denée Benton) continued being an ambitious woman, standing up for justice and equal rights. Her romance with Dr. William Kirkland (Jordan Donica) added drama to her life because William’s mother (played by Phylicia Rashad) wasn’t a fan of her son falling for someone like Peggy.

Marian (Jacobson) and Larry (Richardson) finally got engaged. However, their romance also experienced drama over Larry lying to Marian about his whereabouts. And George’s storyline involved his plans to expand his railroad.

As for Oscar (Ritson), his narrative was about getting back on his feet after losing his family’s money in the previous season. Oscar’s ex-boyfriend John Adams (Claybourne Elder) played a huge role in getting Oscar’s business rolling again. Episode 6 had Oscar thank John for everything he’s done for him. However, tragedy struck during the closing moments of the episode when John got hit by a horse-driven carriage.

It’s clear that John didn’t survive the accident, meaning that Oscar got to witness his ex-boyfriend’s death.

I wasn’t expecting said moment at all, and I was immediately reminded of the unfortunate ‘Bury Your Gays’ trope. Judging from the promotional material for episode 7, it seems like John’s death will be used to have Oscar experience a whole lot of sadness, even causing his feelings to burst out.

So, not only did we get the ‘Bury Your Gays’ trope, but we will also be getting the male version of the ‘Fridging’ Trope. On top of that, Oscar’s character arc continues to face misery after misery, tapping into the ‘Queer Tragedy’ trope.

Sigh!

I feel like Oscar’s outburst of emotions could have been achieved by having John be gravely injured instead of outright killing him.

It’s unfortunate that a show like The Gilded Age, which has a sizeable queer audience, felt the need to use the above-mentioned tropes. Downton Abbey fans had to sit through years of similar tropes because of the queer character Thomas Barrow. So, of course, fans were hoping Oscar would be handled differently. But it turns out, he’ll be treading a similar path.

I will continue to watch and cover the show. But yes, as you can tell, I’m disappointed in how the creative team decided to go about Oscar’s story and handling his relationship with John. If I were to guess, Oscar is likely to reveal his true feelings for John to Marian. That could make for an interesting conversation considering queer individuals during that era.

What did you think of John Adams’ death? Are you excited about The Gilded Age getting renewed for a fourth season?

Let us know.

Author: Farid-ul-Haq

Farid has a Double Masters in Psychology and Biotechnology as well as an M.Phil in Molecular Genetics. He is the author of numerous books including Missing in Somerville, and The Game Master of Somerville. He gives us insight into comics, books, TV shows, anime/manga, video games, and movies.

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