We’re always trying to track what historical costume movies and TV shows are coming up. I always feel like we’ve Just Posted one of these, and then I go check and it’s been months. So, yay, we get some new stuff! As always, you can keep an eye on what’s forthcoming on our Upcoming Movies page! Editor’s note: Due to the ongoing pandemic, some theatrical releases are being rescheduled and some theater chains are temporarily closed, so please be patient as we update our Upcoming Movies page. Note that all dates for the U.S.
The King’s Daughter (Jan. 21)
Formerly titled The Moon and the Sun & featuring King Louis XIV with a mermaid. Costumes by Lizzy Gardiner.
The Gilded Age (Jan. 24 on HBO)
Series set in 1880s New York City created by Downton Abbey‘s Julian Fellowes. Costumes by Kasia Walicka-Maimone.
Death on the Nile (Feb. 11)
Kenneth Branagh’s version of the Agatha Christie mystery. Costumes by Paco Delgado.
The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel season 4 (Feb. 18 on Amazon)
Season 4 returns with more of Midge’s adventures. Costumes by Donna Zakowska.
Downton Abbey: A New Era (March 18)
More of the Crawley family and Downton staff in the 1920s. Costumes by Anna Robbins.
Bridgerton season 2 (March 25 on Netflix)
Season 2 follows the eldest son & heir’s attempts to find a suitable bride. Costumes by Sophie Canale. This isn’t a full trailer, just a first look clip.
The Northman (April 8)
Set in Iceland at the turn of the 10th century, a Nordic prince sets out on a mission of revenge after his father is murdered. Costumes by Linda Muir.
No Release Date
Becoming Elizabeth (Starz)
Miniseries about the early years of Queen Elizabeth I. Costumes by Bartholomew Cariss.
A Very British Scandal (Amazon)
The notorious divorce of the Duke and Duchess of Argyll during the 1960s. Costumes by Ian Fulcher.
Which of these upcoming frock flicks has you most excited?
The Gilded Age looks promising, can’t wait to see it!
I live near Newport, RI where some of that was filmed. They were looking for extras, but I was too old (over 50), have tattoos, and obviously dyed red hair. I don’t think I would have the cut LOL. :)
They could have casted you as the exotic governess in a new money family ;-)
I’d be a very bad influence. :)
made the cut, sorry
Ooh, you actually live near all those gaudy Gilded Age mansions? Are they as overdone as the pictures make them seem?
To me, they look overdone. But then again, I’m something of a minimalist when it comes to decorating. :)
Now that I’ve watched the first episode of Gilded Age, I have to say the costumes yanked me out of the experience quite a few times. So many of them were…. wrong. Kind of like Bridgerton – pretty fantasy eye candy but so very wrong.
The Gilded Age. God knows there’s plenty of material but seeing how Fellowes fantasized English society I shudder to think how he’ll mess up American. I note a lone black female character. I am sure there were black servants in NYC in the 1880s, it’s impossible that they’d figure as anything else in Gilded society though there were certainly a number of well off black people at the time.
There may have been some black servants, however the great majority of servants in NYC at that time would have been Irish. By far. In the south, the servants would be black – but not in the north.
Very true.
Becoming Elizabeth. That coach is wrong. When Elizabeth was young she traveled on horseback or if she wasn’t well in a horse litter. Also it looks very 19th century.
Please tell me they’re not using gothic cathedrals as sets again!
Elizabeth did adopt starkly simple black and white garb during Edward’s reign. It was part of her retrieving her reputation after the Seymour scandal but there’s no reason to assume it was just a pose. She was a genuinely pious and interested protestant and simple dress was part of that.
She wore elaborate costumes as queen because magnificence was part of the job. There are indications that her private tastes were simpler.
Going by the trailer alone (probably unfair), it looks like the usual Starz b.s. But I would try watching anyway, because E.T. is popular in this household. The crucial question, of course, is French Hood Accurate or French Hood Too Sticky-Uppy?
All true, but … our Lady of Bear Island as Lady Jane Grey! I might watch it just for her.
You are quite right. I might as well.
when they say “a modern take…” I cringe and know they’ve already messed it up. sigh, didn’t ANYONE ELSE rule England other than the Tudors and Victoria?!?!
Covid aside, The Gilded Age seems to have been years in the making…I have had, and lost, and gained again and lost again enthusiasm along the way. Also HBO is too expensive…will have to wait until there are several things I want to see before I pay for it…
Constance: it’s all going to get worse. Shows that were on open channels before are now being aired on streaming channels that require a fee. A Discovery of Witches is now in that category. Rather like drug-dealing. The first couple of fixes are free, but once you’re hooked…
You could write a great series about a social climber clawing her way to the top of NYC society and struggling to stay there with plenty of social commentary on the extravagance, waste and hollowness of her ‘success’ but I’m betting we won’t get that.
I read the fantasy “The Moon and the Sun” several years ago, and thought it was quite compelling in evoking the terrifying claustrophobia of Versailles society. Based on this trailer, I’ll be sure to stay away. Probably a sad waste of Bingbing Fan as the mermaid whose fate drives the plot.
looking at the costumes I thought “is this in an alternate world where the French monarchy didn’t get the chop?” because I don’t think they dressed in Chanel, Norma Kamali, or Pierre Cardin.
It’s a good book. I knew the author, Vonda McIntyre, a little—she mentored a friend of mine. Many years ago, I got to hear from her the story of the many, many scripts the adaption had gone through. Apparently, she had the right to see the scripts, but no power to change them, and they just kept getting worse and worse. One version featured dynamite being used to resolve plot long before it was invented. The love interest being a dwarf was removed pretty early on.
At the point I heard this story, the project was shelved. This movie was made years after–I don’t know if it’s one of the old scripts pulled out of a slush pile or a new apparently not-great version. In any case, it clearly really went through Development Hell.
Vonda passed away a couple of years ago, and this whole things makes me sad. On the other hand, my friend said that getting to go to Versailles during filming and meeting Pierce Brosnan made Vonda very happy, so maybe it’s not a complete loss.
Looking forward to the Gilded Age because I LOVE Denée Benton, and I am looking forward to her getting the respect she deserves!
Oh Lawks! I was a bit meh, Death on the Nile AGAIN but then I see Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders are in it and I’ll be there with the popcorn. I can’t see how anyone could top the perfection of the 1978 version, but I’ll give it a shot.
While I can watch Dame Maggie Smith fire verbal zingers forever I am so over Downton Abbey. The inconsistencies, inaccuracies and unending angst have finished me.
“unending angst”
…that’s pretty much television these days…
True! And very tiresome!
The King’s Daughter and A Very British Scandal look fun. The Gilded Age trailer left me feeling meh. I’m so excited about more Downton Abbey, but I refuse to look at the trailers, I want to be completely surprised!!
The Northman, coz Björk…
They do know that the phrase “the king’s daughters” is associated with sex work, right? Right?
(note: they were not sex workers, closer to mail-order brides, but the rumor started right from the beginning and seems to have stuck)
Fun Facts to Know and Tell! Chloë Sevigny is a descendent of a filles du roy. According to Finding Your Roots, the filles were heavily chaperoned by nuns and all of the girls (they were all around the age of 14) got to choose who they married. Chloë’s ancestor had 12 surviving children between two husbands.
Mermaids are cool but oh MAN the costumes in The King’s Daughter…it’s like Reign, Versailles edition LOL
If The Gilded Age is based off the series I think it’s based off of, I fear large amounts of “I’m not like other girls.”
Oh great.,☹️
Re: Elizabeth teaser cast member: “I can’t wait to introduce people to this relatively unknown time in history.”
Uh. Haven’t there been COUNTLESS movies and shows about the Tudors??
“Relatively unknown times in history” worthy of film/TV treatment could be a thread topic in itself.
Margaret Beaufort would make a wonderful subject, how this vulnerable young heiress managed to take control of her life and her fortune, fought for her only son and schemed with the Queen of England to unseat an usurper and put their children on the throne.
Yes! Margaret Beaufort deserves a series! And we’d got the Wars of the Roses on top of it – from a Lancastrian perspective. Also maybe that could redress some of the slander aimed at her by so many of the Philippa Gregory series.
I’ll just comment on the things I can watch here. I liked A Very British Scandal – well made.
As for the rest… Death on the Nile – not interested. Much as I like Kenneth Branagh (and I do!!!), he’s just not Poirot to me. I’d rather watch reruns with David Suchet.
Downton to me is at the point where things get too much, overly re-hashed and I stop watching. I was fine with the original TV series and that’s that. Stories have endings!!!
Bridgerton – oh dear, I have still not made it to even watching the first series. I read the book the second series is based on ages and ages ago in my old “reading cheap romances from the kiosk days”, because that’s how even Julia Quinn’s earlier books got published in German. And it was one of the rare ones that I couldn’t finish because I thought it got sooo silly at a certain plot point.
Ok. I may have SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEED at The Gilded Age and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. Kinda on the fence about Downton Abbey. Might tune in for the lewks.
Bridgerton. Some gorgeous people this season. Without the Duke, I don’t know if I’ll tune in.
SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE away!
From one who is always looking for a film to be a time machine: I don’t know much about 1880’s NYC accents, but just enough to suspect that linguists would have a field day criticizing the accents in The Gilded Age. There may well even be recordings of how New Yorkers talked back then. Not a costume issue but…
For that matter, I don’t think the (upper-class) accents in Downton Abbey weren’t accurate either for the period. The Crown did a much better job on that score
GUYS GUYS GUYS!!! Brad Jones aka The Cinema Snob has done a review of THE KING’S DAUGHTER! Hahaha it looks so terrible! Also, there’s lots of screencaps of the costumes: they are truly Snark Week worthy.
My eyes! My eyes!! Those costumes!!! But Pierce Brosnan is as beautiful as ever.
One episode of The Gilded Age and I already really can’t wait to see what y’all have to say about the dresses, especially Carrie Coon’s.