‘The Gilded Age’ Season 4: Who’s Leaving, Who’s New and When It Premieres

• Patrick Page (Richard Clay) and Sullivan Jones (T. Thomas Fortune) won’t appear in Season 4 of The Gilded Age, which premieres Sunday, Nov. 1, on HBO and HBO Max.
• Clay is the man many fans suspect in George Russell’s shooting. HBO hasn’t said why either actor is out, and both could return as guests later.
• The new season jumps to 1886 and adds real historical figures, including Jim Gaffigan as President Grover Cleveland and Bill Camp as J.P. Morgan.

Two familiar faces won’t be back when The Gilded Age returns on Sunday, Nov. 1. Patrick Page, who plays George Russell’s secretary Richard Clay, and Sullivan Jones, who plays newspaper publisher T. Thomas Fortune, aren’t in Season 4, Deadline reported this week.

Neither HBO nor the actors have explained the exits. Both men were in the show from Season 1, were promoted to series regulars for Season 2 and went back to recurring roles for Season 3.

Who is leaving ‘The Gilded Age’ in Season 4?

Clay’s exit leaves the bigger hole. George (Morgan Spector) survived being shot at the end of Season 3, and the person who paid the gunman still hasn’t been named. Earlier that season, George fired Clay for failing to close a deal, and Clay went to work for one of George’s rivals.

That made Clay the favorite suspect among viewers. With Page gone, Season 4 will have to answer the question without him, or leave it hanging for later.

Fortune’s exit follows a story that had already wound down. He was introduced as Peggy Scott’s editor at The New York Globe, became her love interest in Season 2 and lost her to Dr. William Kirkland (Jordan Donica), whom she is now engaged to.

He is also one of the show’s real people. The real Timothy Thomas Fortune was born enslaved in Florida in 1856, edited The New York Globe in the 1880s and went on to run The New York Age, one of the leading Black newspapers of its time.

Neither actor is written out for good, Deadline reported. Clay and Fortune could still come back as guest characters in a later season.

Who’s new in ‘The Gilded Age’ Season 4?

The new season moves the story to 1886, and several newcomers play people who really lived. That year, President Cleveland married Frances Folsom in the Blue Room, still the only president to wed in the White House.

Maggie Kuntz, Andrew Burnap, Taylor Trensch and James Scully also join the cast. The core returns, led by Carrie Coon as Bertha Russell, Christine Baranski as Agnes van Rhijn, Cynthia Nixon as Ada and Denée Benton as Peggy.

When does ‘The Gilded Age’ Season 4 premiere, and where did Season 3 leave off?

Season 4 premieres Sunday, Nov. 1, on HBO and streams on HBO Max, where the first three seasons are available. HBO renewed the show on July 28, 2025, before the Season 3 finale.

Season 3 ended with Bertha and George separated and Peggy engaged to William. In the trailer, William is offered a job in Washington, D.C., and Peggy makes clear she doesn’t want to leave New York. Gladys is now the Duchess of Buckingham after marrying Hector Vere.

More TV exits, explained: every NCIS main character who left and why and why “Law & Order” killed off Det. Riley. Another returning drama: what to know about “The Diplomat” Season 4. More in Movies & TV.

— Bruno Monteiro

Sources: Deadline on the Season 4 exits (Oct. 20, 2026); TVLine (Andy Swift) and CBR (Jeremy Dick) on the characters’ storylines and the Season 4 cast; Screen Rant (John Orquiola) on the 1886 setting; HBO’s renewal announcement (July 28, 2025); Britannica and BlackPast on T. Thomas Fortune; History.com on the Cleveland wedding. Photos and video: HBO, BUILD Series.