As a fan of The Gilded Age, I can say there have been few recent pieces of news as genuinely satisfying as seeing the series finally recognized by the Critics’ Choice. Not simply because of awards themselves, but because these nominations reflect something longtime viewers have felt for a while now: the show’s rising popularity is inseparable from its growing narrative ambition, emotional density, and, above all, its performances.

This season, two of the strongest performances in the cast were officially acknowledged: Carrie Coon, nominated for Best Actress in a Drama Series for her work as Bertha Russell, and Denée Benton, nominated for Best Supporting Actress in a Drama Series for her portrayal of Peggy Scott. That is no small achievement. It feels precise — and deserved.

Of course, my personal opinion remains unchanged: Cynthia Nixon has been quietly extraordinary as Ada Forte, just as Christine Baranski continues to deliver razor-sharp brilliance as Agnes van Rhijn. But perhaps their moment will come later. For now, the nominations reflect two characters whose conflicts are more immediately “realistic,” less coded through irony or restraint — the kind of emotional journeys that awards bodies tend to recognize more readily.

In Carrie Coon’s case, the recognition feels inevitable. Bertha Russell, in less capable hands, could easily be dismissed as a villain: overly ambitious, ruthless, cold. Or, viewed more kindly, pragmatic and visionary. What Coon does is far more sophisticated. Since the first season, Bertha has divided audiences — yet everyone agrees on one point: the performance is extraordinary. There is a sharp emotional intelligence at work, one that never allows the character to flatten into a caricature.

This latest season presented Bertha with her most challenging arc yet. The conflict is no longer only external — old money versus new — but deeply internal. Cracks appear in her personal life, in her marriage, in the limits of her carefully calculated rise. What once seemed like sheer force of will now carries a cost. Bertha does not retreat, but she suffers. She does not yield, but she pays. Coon sustains all of this with remarkable control, using silence, restraint, and subtle emotional shifts to devastating effect.

Denée Benton’s nomination, however, carries an even greater symbolic weight. The Gilded Age has rightly been praised as innovative for its portrayal of Black society in post-emancipation America — with dignity, realism, and narrative scope. These stories are not confined to racism alone. Peggy Scott is not merely a bridge between two social worlds within the series; she is a fully realized world of her own.

Across the seasons, Peggy emerges as a woman shaped by deep trauma, intellectual purpose, and emotional resilience. Her arc is never limited to suffering: it encompasses grief, motherhood, vocation, belonging — and, at last, the possibility of a future that is not defined solely by endurance. This season’s movement toward something resembling happiness, without erasing loss or compromise, is one of the show’s most delicate and satisfying achievements.

Benton approaches this journey with extraordinary sensitivity, never slipping into excess or sentimentality. And that skill is no accident. Like much of The Gilded Age ensemble, she brings with her a celebrated Broadway background, marked by critical acclaim and awards, which informs her command of long-form character work. Within the series, Benton has firmly established herself as one of its defining stars — and the nomination alone already represents a significant victory.

The cast, notably, celebrated the recognition together, reinforcing something that has always been evident off-screen: The Gilded Age is a profoundly collaborative show. There is no sense of internal rivalry, only of a group growing stronger collectively — and that spirit translates directly to the screen.

My support, then, is fully shared between the two. Because when a series succeeds so completely in building complex, compelling female protagonists across such different social realities, the award becomes more than individual acknowledgment. It stands as confirmation that The Gilded Age has finally claimed the place it has long deserved.