Ranking The 10 Most Powerful Characters After Season 3

Warning: SPOILERS For The Gilded Age Season 3The Gilded Age season 3 reshuffled the deck and restructured the ladder of power of New York’s high society. For the well-to-do New Yorkers of the late 19th century, wealth and status are the ultimate prizes to seek and maintain. However, The Gilded Age‘s war between the establishment and “new money” began to mean less in season 3.

Fortune smiled on some characters in The Gilded Age season 3, granting them newfound money and privilege. Meanwhile, others met disgrace and indignity, or even sudden death in the case of John Adams (Claybourne Elder). Divorce also became a major topic in The Gilded Age season 3, with Bertha Russell (Carrie Coon) personally ending the stigma of divorced women in society.

The Gilded Age’s upstairs-downstairs paradigm continued in season 3, but being a servant wasn’t an eternal condemnation. One character broke free of service and became a newly minted member of high society. Another fought against her fate but achieved a level of status beyond the best New York has to offer.

Here is how the 10 most powerful characters in The Gilded Age rank after season 3, from least to most powerful.

Ward McAllister

Barely hanging on by his fingernails, Ward McAllister (Nathan Lane) became persona non grata in The Gilded Age season 3. Formerly the trusted confidante of Mrs. Astor (Donna Murphy), Ward was ex-communicated after publishing his scandalous tell-all book, “Society As I Have Found It.”

McAllister played both sides of the war between Mrs. Astor and Bertha Russell in The Gilded Age‘s first two seasons, but deciding to expose the denizens of high society for profit was a costly mistake. How Ward didn’t see the damage he could inflict on himself is hard to believe, but no one has fallen from grace quite like him.

Jack Trotter

Jack Trotter (Ben Ahlers) is The Gilded Age‘s embodiment of the American Dream. The Van Rhijns’ former footman yearned for a better life and used his ingenuity to make it happen. With Larry Russell’s (Harry Richardson) help, Jack’s invention of a new and improved alarm clock made him $300,000 richer.

Trotter is now a wealthy man and no longer a servant. Yet Jack is also a babe in the wilds of New York high society with no real understanding of how the game is played. Still, Jack has an inventive mind, loyal friends, and the means to adapt as he counts himself among New York’s elite.

Agnes Van Rhijn

Agnes dressed for opera in The Gilded Age

Agnes Van Rhijn suffered indignities and a startling fall through no fault of her own. Her son, Oscar Van Rhijn (Blake Ritson), was swindled out of Agnes’ fortune, while her younger sister, Ada Forte (Cynthia Nixon), became their household’s mistress and breadwinner.

Still, Aunt Agnes held onto her public mystique, with few the wiser about her being nearly penniless. Ada gave Agnes a boon by helping install Mrs. Van Rhijn as President of the New York Historical Society. A survivor with a biting wit and a genuine heart, Mrs. Van Rhijn remains a respected and influential player in society.

Oscar Van Rhijn & Enid Winterton

Oscar Van Rhijn and Enid Winterton Gilded Age

Oscar Van Rhijn is The Gilded Age season 3’s comeback kid. Ashamed and powerless when season 3 began, Oscar pulled himself up by his bootstraps and went back to work, with the help of his late ex-lover, John Adams. By the end of The Gilded Age season 3, Oscar was an up-and-comer and a man with a plan.

The future Mr. and Mrs. Van Rhijn are the couple to watch in The Gilded Age season 4.

Similarly, Enid Winterton (Kelly Curran) was adrift after the death of her husband. Oscar proposed a lavender marriage to his old ally, combining to become “a fighting pair” with New York for the taking. The future Mr. and Mrs. Van Rhijn are the couple to watch in The Gilded Age season 4.

Larry Russell

Larry Russell broke free of his father, George Russell’s (Morgan Spector), shadow in The Gilded Age season 3, and Larry also defied his mother, Bertha’s, control over her son. Larry’s innate business sense earned him $300,000 from his partnership with Jack Trotter, proving he is his father’s son after all.

When George sent his son to Morenci, Arizona, Larry saved the Russell family fortune when he realized the copper mines they owned were worth millions. The Gilded Age season 3 proved Larry Russell is a big-time player, and even his choice of the penniless Marian Brook (Louisa Jacobson) as a potential bride won’t dim his rising star.

Ada Forte

Cynthia Nixon as Ada Brooks smiling at someone in The Gilded Age.

One of The Gilded Age season 3’s greatest rises belongs to Ada Forte. The former spinster suffered a tragedy when her husband, Luke Forte (Sean Robert Leonard), died, but the reverend willed his fortune to his bride. Now a wealthy woman, Ada overcame her grief in The Gilded Age season 3 and emerged stronger than ever.

Agnes Van Rhijn touchingly acknowledged her sister’s position as the true head of the Van Rhijn-Forte-Brook household at the end of The Gilded Age season 3. Ada’s dalliance with the temperance movement and psychic mediums aside, Mrs. Forte is a powerful new force to be reckoned with in New York high society.

Mrs. Astor

Mrs. Lina Astor has spent The Gilded Age weathering an assault on tradition and everything she holds dear, primarily by her rival, Bertha Russell. In The Gilded Age season 3, Mrs. Astor’s grip on power began to slip further as her daughter, Charlotte Drayton’s (Hannah Shealy), divorce linked the Astor name to scandal.

Though The Gilded Age continues to chip away at Mrs. Astor’s authority over society, Lina’s grace and will maintain her peers’ reverence towards her. Mrs. Astor can’t fight the future, but she will cling to her lofty status until the bitter end.

George Russell

George Russell remains The Gilded Age‘s most powerful and feared titan of industry, though season 3 challenged George like never before. From nearly losing his fortune due to the perils of business to surviving an assassination attempt, Mr. Russell ended The Gilded Age season 3 questioning his life and choices.

Mr. Russell cares little about his status in high society, but he no longer feels obligated to humor his wife Bertha. George’s resentment towards Bertha over forcing their daughter, Gladys (Taissa Farmiga), into an arranged marriage led to Mr. Russell leaving his wife, potentially tearing The Gilded Age‘s most powerful marriage apart.

Bertha Russell

The indomitable Bertha Russell overcame her own family turning on her to continue her rise as arguably the most powerful woman in New York’s high society. From becoming the mother of a Duchess through her own machinations to cementing her power with a successful Newport Ball, Bertha may have achieved her apex in The Gilded Age season 3.

Yet Bertha’s single-minded self-belief alienated her own family. Larry distanced himself from his mother, and George tore Bertha’s life asunder when he decided to leave her at the end of The Gilded Age season 3. Bertha can take little solace in being right about Gladys and her Duke when it cost her nearly everything.

Gladys, Duchess Of Buckingham & Hector, Duke Of Buckingham

Gladys pretending to be happy with the Duke

Gladys Russell fought a losing battle and succumbed to her mother, Bertha, in The Gilded Age season 3. Yet, against all odds and myriad challenges, Gladys, Duchess of Buckingham, and Hector, Duke of Buckingham (Ben Lamb) emerged as newlyweds happily in love. Gladys is also pregnant with a future Duke or Duchess.

Bertha’s dream for Gladys was to become one of the most influential and powerful women in the world. Indeed, the Duchess and Duke of Buckingham now exist in a stratosphere above New York high society. From defiant teenager to Duchess of Buckingham, Gladys and her Duke are now the most powerful couple in The Gilded Age.