What We Know
Netflix's The Age of Innocence is a limited series adaptation of Edith Wharton's 1920 Pulitzer winner, written and showrun by Emma Frost. It follows the same love triangle at the heart of Wharton's novel: a society gentleman engaged to a proper, well-bred woman, whose life is upended when his fiancée's unconventional cousin — a countess fleeing a failed marriage — comes back into the picture.
Filming took place across Europe, including Prague and Liberec. A release date hasn't been set yet, but the full cast has now been confirmed.
The Cast
Ben Radcliffe as Newland Archer, a society gentleman torn between duty and desire
Camila Morrone as Countess Ellen Olenska, a free-spirited divorcee whose return upends New York society
Kristine Froseth as May Welland, Newland's conventional but not entirely predictable fiancée
Margo Martindale as Mrs. Manson-Mingott, May and Ellen's formidable grandmother
Fiona Glascott as Augusta Welland, May's traditional mother
Belinda Bromilow as Adeline Archer, Newland's independent-minded widowed mother
Jack Cutmore-Scott as Julius Beaufort, a self-assured banker at the center of society
Hayley Mills as Louisa van der Luyden, a regal fixture of the city's old guard
About the Book
Wharton's The Age of Innocence won the 1921 Pulitzer Prize, making her the first woman to receive the fiction award. Set in the rigid social world of 1870s New York, it follows Newland Archer as his engagement to the proper May Welland is complicated by his growing feelings for her cousin, the scandal-trailing Countess Ellen Olenska. The novel holds a 3.97 average across more than 200,000 Goodreads ratings and remains one of the most acclaimed American novels of the twentieth century — previously adapted by Martin Scorsese in 1993, a version that earned five Oscar nominations and one win.
