Watch The Gilded Age season 1 episode 1 for free right now

Carrie Coon in The Gilded Age (Image credit: Alison Rosa/HBO)

If you missed out on HBO's The Gilded Age season 1 because you're lacking HBO as part of your cable package or don't subscribe to Max, well you can now remedy that. The full The Gilded Age season 1 episode 1 is now available for free on YouTube, allowing anyone to watch the period drama. This isn't a coincidence, as The Gilded Age season 2 is set to premiere on Sunday, October 29.

The Gilded Age was created by Downton Abbey's Julian Fellowes. While Downton focused on an aristocratic British family in the early 20th century, The Gilded Age turns the clock back and heads across the pond to late 19th century New York City, following a range of characters that populate high society.

Here is the official synopsis for the series:

"The American Gilded Age was a period of immense economic change, great conflict between the old ways and brand new systems, and huge fortunes made and lost. From Oscar and Emmy-winner Julian Fellowes, The Gilded Age follows a young woman who moves in with her old-money aunts and quickly gets entangled in the social war between them and their new-money neighbors. In a world on the brink of the modern age, will she follow the rules of society or forge her own path?"

The series stars Carrie Coon, Christine Baranski, Cynthia Nixon, Morgan Spector, Louisa Jacobson, Denée Benton, Ben Ahlers, Michael Cerveris, Kelley Curran, Taissa Farmiga, Jack Gilpin, Simon Jones, Sullivan Jones, Celia Keenan-Bolger, Debra Monk, Donna Murphy, Kristine Nielsen, Kelli O'Hara, Patrick Page, Harry Richardson, Taylor Richardson, Blake Ritson, Douglas Sills, Erin Wilhelmi, Nathan Lane, Audra McDonald, John Douglas Thompson, Ashlie Atkinson, Laura Benanti, Nicole Brydon Bloom, Christopher Denham, David Furr, Ward Horton, Matilda Lawler and Robert Sean Leonard.

With the first episode now available to watch on YouTube, you can get a taste of the series to see if you want to commit to watching the rest of it by signing up for the Max streaming service, where all The Gilded Age season 1 episodes are available to watch on-demand.

If you are hoping to catch up to be able to watch The Gilded Age season 2 in time for the season 2 premiere, you can read WTW's The Gilded Age season 1 recaps to get all the key plot points.

The Gilded Age season 2 premieres on Sunday, October 29, at 9 pm ET/PT on HBO and streams simultaneously on Max. Fans of the series in the UK will get season 2 on Monday, October 30 on Sky Atlantic and NOW.

Michael Balderston is a DC-based entertainment and assistant managing editor for What to Watch, who has previously written about the TV and movies with TV Technology, Awards Circuit and regional publications. Spending most of his time watching new movies at the theater or classics on TCM, some of Michael's favorite movies include Casablanca, Moulin Rouge!, Silence of the Lambs, Children of Men, One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest and Star Wars. On the TV side he enjoys Only Murders in the Building, Yellowstone, The Boys, Game of Thrones and is always up for a Seinfeld rerun. Follow on Letterboxd.