Clay and Fortune Absent《The Gilded Age》(The Gilded Age) Season 4

Season 4 of The Gilded Age will return to HBO on Sunday, November 1, but two familiar faces will not appear in this season.According to Deadline, Patrick Page, who plays Richard Clay, and Sullivan Jones, who plays T. Thomas Fortune, are not participating in the show this fall.The former is George Russell's former secretary, and the latter is the publisher of the New York Globe.

Klay's absence in particular raises an unresolved thread.At the end of Season 3, although George survived the shooting, it was still not revealed who hired the assassin to kill him.Clay had previously failed to negotiate an important deal and was fired by George. The two had a fierce breakup and have not yet reconciled.Clay now also works for one of George's main rivals, leading some viewers to suspect that he may be involved in the assassination.

This is still the viewer’s inference.Season 4 will also deal with George and Bertha's marriage on the verge of collapse; TVLine's report also raised questions about whether George, who once nearly died, would prioritize tracking down the employer behind the scenes.The news that the actor will not appear does not bring the answer to the case at the same time.

Fortune's exit has another layer to the story.Although he is the publisher of an important newspaper, he mainly enters the plot in the first season as the love interest of Peggy Scott; Peggy is now engaged to Dr. William Kirkland.The trailer for the new season shows that the two have differences over their future arrangements: William has obtained an attractive position in Washington, while Peggy is unwilling to give up her advancing career in New York.Based on this, TVLine speculates that if the engagement changes, Fortune may still re-enter her life in the future. This is not a plot that has been announced yet.

The cast and characters confirmed for Season 4 include the following complete cast, including the Russell family, the Van Rijn family, the Scott family, and figures in New York's social and financial circles.

Page and Jones both joined the show as recurring supporting characters in the first season, were promoted to regular starring roles in the second season, and were recast as supporting characters in the third season.This absence has not been stated as a permanent departure: Deadline said that Klay or Fortune may still return as a guest in future seasons.