Filming has started on The Age of Innocence, an honest depiction of Edith Wharton’s portrait of forbidden love and lust in Gilded Age New York society. Cameras are now rolling in Prague, Czech Republic. Get your first taste of the lush 19th-century period drama with a behind-the-scenes image from the set now.
Meet the actors bringing this classic tale to life in a new limited series from Emma Frost (The White Queen, The White Princess, Jamaica Inn, Shameless) and directed by Shannon Murphy (Dying for Sex, Babyteeth).
Ben Radcliffe will play dashing society gentleman Newland Archer, Camila Morrone will play the scandal-struck divorcee Ellen Olenska, Kristine Froseth will play Archer’s sweet fiancée May Welland, and Margo Martindale will play Mrs. Manson-Mingott. Keep reading to learn about the other characters and the actors — including Fiona Glascott, Emma Shipp, Belinda Bromilow, Hayley Mills, Ryan Morgan, Kel Matsena, Lucia Balordi, Steven Pacey, Will Tudor, Elly Roberts, Michael Cochrane, Jack Cutmore-Scott, Anna Madeley, and John Light — who play them.
Based on Wharton’s classic story of forbidden love in 19th-century New York City, The Age of Innocence follows a passionate and heartrending will-they-or-won’t-they love triangle while exploring themes of freedom, duty, identity, and love in all its forms. The new take promises to be true to Wharton’s novel but will speak to a new generation as it traverses the ballrooms and bedrooms of its young characters, asking what is love — and what is lust. And should we ultimately be driven by our heads, or by our hearts?
Emma Frost
Shannon Murphy
Wharton’s The Age of Innocence made history when it was first published in 1920, earning its author the first Pulitzer Prize for Fiction awarded to a woman. Since then, the book has cemented itself in the American canon and has inspired numerous adaptations. Martin Scorsese filmed the novel in 1993, earning the original text a new generation of fans alongside numerous accolades — including five Academy Award nominations and one win.
Netflix, where shows and movies become culture-defining moments that spark new fandoms, expand worlds, and impact trends across music, fashion, and retail, has a proven track record of adapting beloved books for the screen, including The Perfect Couple, 3 Body Problem, Ripley, Leave the World Behind, and The Queen’s Gambit.
Keep reading for everything to know about Frost’s adaptation.
Froseth (The Buccaneers, Oh, Canada) will play May Welland, a kind and genuine woman who is a product of her social class. May is a religious rule follower and a believer in the status quo, but not without a rebellious streak.
As May’s intelligent and independent cousin, Morrone (Daisy Jones & the Six, Something Very Bad Is Going to Happen) plays Ellen Olenska, who returns to New York after a failed marriage to a Polish nobleman. Ellen is a free spirit who is playful, smart, and strong-willed, yet carries conflict and guilt surrounding her new position in society.
Radcliffe (Masters of the Air, Anatomy of a Scandal) is Newland Archer, a handsome, progressive, and intelligent society gentleman. Newland craves a deeper and more passionate connection to the world, and to someone in it.
Martindale (The Americans, Justified) will play Mrs. Manson-Mingott, May and Ellen’s grandmother, who is entertaining, scurrilous, defiant, capricious, stubborn, and greedy.
Fiona Glascott
Glascott (Julia, Brooklyn, Fantastic Beasts) plays May’s traditional and loving mother, Augusta Welland. Bromilow (The Great, The Roses) is Adeline Archer, Newland’s mother, an independent, well-informed widow who prefers solitude. Shipp (Rivals, What it Feels Like for a Girl) plays Newland’s sister, Janey Archer, who is unmarried and desperately wishes to change that. Mills (Trap, Arthur’s Whiskey) guest stars as Louisa van der Luyden, Adeline’s cousin, who is an influential and regal member of New York society. Cochrane (Downton Abbey, Sharpe) plays Henry van der Luyden, Adeline’s cousin and a descendant of British royalty, who is regal, removed, and old-fashioned. Morgan (Mix Tape, The Mongoose) plays Lawrence Lefferts, Newland’s snide yet sociable friend.
Belinda Bromilow
Emma Shipp
Matsena (Mad Heidi, Mix Tape) is Ned Winsett, a friend of Newland’s and an editor at a radical women’s magazine. Balordi (A Testa Alta) is Nastasia, Ellen’s ladies’ maid who has become a close friend and confidant. Pacey (MobLand, Nuremberg) plays John Welland, May’s father, a learned yet absent and unemotional judge. Tudor (Industry, Wolf Hall) guest stars as Sillerton Jackson, Newland’s friend who is lofty and a gossip with secrets of his own. Roberts (Sex Education, Black Cake) plays Edith Mingott, May and Ellen’s sweet and unassuming cousin. As Ellen’s love interest, Cutmore-Scott (Buffy the Vampire Slayer: New Sunnydale, Frasier) is Julius Beaufort, an arrogant banker at the center of society. Madeley (1949, All Creatures Great and Small) plays Aunt Medora, Ellen’s lively, amoral aunt and former guardian. Light (Around the World in 80 Days, Showtrial) plays Mr. Lovell Mingott, May and Ellen’s uncle who is moral, pious, and community-minded
Peter Chernin, Jenno Topping, and Tracey Cook will executive produce the new series alongside showrunner and writer Frost, marking another collaboration between Netflix and Chernin Entertainment, which in recent years includes the chart-topping film Back in Action, starring Cameron Diaz and Jamie Foxx; The Madness, starring Colman Domingo; upcoming thriller Apex, starring Charlize Theron and Taron Egerton; the sci-fi thriller 11817, starring Greta Lee and Wagner Moura; Fear Street: Prom Queen, the next installment of the Fear Street franchise; and the series Man on Fire, based on the books by A.J. Quinnell and starring Yahya Abdul-Mateen II.
Murphy also executive produces and will direct Episodes 1-3. Lisa Brühlmann (Killing Eve) and Natalia Leite (The Handmaid’s Tale) also direct.
Stick around Tudum for future updates on The Age of Innocence.
