Julian Fellowes’ ‘The Gilded Age’ Moves Forward at NBC With Director, Spring 2019 Premiere Target

By Daniel Holloway

LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – “The Gilded Age,” one of TV’s longest-gestating projects, is a step closer to finally coming to fruition.

Michael Engler has come aboard to direct the two-hour NBC premiere of the new drama from “Downton Abbey” co-creator Julian Fellowes. The first season is now slated to debut in spring 2019.

Engler is a television veteran who directed multiple episodes of the wildly popular British period drama “Downton Abbey,” and also was a director and executive producer on Showtime’s “The Big C.” He recently completed work directing the upcoming feature film “The Chaperone,” written by Fellowes. He is represented by WME, Anonymous Content and attorney Alan Hergott.

Set in New York in the 1880s, “The Gilded Age” tells the story of a new-money family trying to join the ranks of the Astors and Vanderbilts. The drama has been in development for more than six years. NBC entertainment chairman Bob Greenblatt first announced that it was being developed at the Television Critics Association’s press tour in 2012. In the years that followed there was little movement toward production, as Fellowes wrapped up “Downton Abbey.” But in January, NBC revealed that the show had been given a 10-episode series order.

Fellowes is set to write the Universal Television series and will serve alongside “Downton Abbey” partner Gareth Neame as executive producer.