‘The Gilded Age’ Creator Explains Why He Killed Off [SPOILER] in Season 3
The Gilded Age creator Julian Fellowes, who is also responsible for bringing Downton Abbey to life, is speaking out about that upsetting season three death.
Spoilers ahead if you haven’t watched the episodes.
Keep reading to find out more…
Julian was asked about the decision to kill off Oscar’s secret lover John Adams, played by Claybourne Elder.
The death caused great turmoil and pain for Oscar (Blake Ritson), and led to a scene where he almost came out to his mother Agnes (Christine Baranski), aunt Ada (Cynthia Nixon), and cousin Marian (Louisa Jacobson).
When asked about killing off John Adams, Julian told Deadline, “Well, we wanted to explore in different ways the difficulties of being homosexual in that period when it was still illegal. And of course for me, I can remember when it was still illegal when I was young. It’s not long ago, any of this. And part of it was that you couldn’t show grief, you couldn’t show emotion. You had to keep that in a room with a closed door.”
He continued, “There’s no reason to believe that the proportion of men and women who were homosexual in 1885 was significantly different from the numbers now. It’s just that most of them learned to live in hiding and to have artificial emotional lives. And I think that was the point we were trying to make.”
Besides for Claybourne, find out the 2 other stars from The Gilded Age who are likely exiting ahead of season four.
Posted To:Blake Ritson Claybourne Elder gilded age HBO The Gilded Age
