MGM+ to Adapt Gilded Age Novel ‘The American Heiress’
Julianna Margulies will lead an eight-part adaptation of Daisy Goodwin's novel.
They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, and the slow-burn success of HBO’s The Gilded Age has finally started to inspire the copycats that come with being a hit. MGM+ has greenlit The American Heiress based on the bestselling novel of the same name by Daisy Goodwin.
If Goodwin’s name sounds familiar, it’s because she also created the popular Masterpiece drama Victoria. She’ll now turn her attention across the pond to tell the story of an American “dollar princess” who married into a cash-strapped aristocratic family. The book follows the aptly named Cora Cash, a spoiled Newport belle and daughter of a nouveau riche American family who, like so many of her generation, is sent to England to hunt for a husband with a title.
Emmy-winning actress Julianna Margulies (The Morning Show) is set to star as Cora’s formidable mother, Isabel, determined to see her daughter achieve the one thing money can’t buy: Nobility.
“The American Heiress is a story about mothers and daughters, old society obligation and new world entitlement, and the search for meaning in a world distorted by money,” Goodwin said in a statement. “I hope it will make viewers laugh, think, and swoon. I am a history nerd, but I am also a fan of the Hollywood golden age—think Consuelo Vanderbilt meets Rebecca! I am beyond excited to be working with Julianna Margulies, who embodies the majesty and frustration of Isabella Cash.”
Here’s the series’ synopsis.
In 1893, beautiful and vivacious Cora Cash is a “dollar princess” reluctantly brought to England by her mother the formidable Mrs. Cash in search of the “one thing she can’t buy at home, a title.” Cora thinks she is in love with Teddy, an American artist, but when she falls off her horse in a hunting accident and wakes up in Lulworth Castle, the seat of the 12th Duke of Wareham, all her certainties are challenged. Cora wants above all to do the right thing, but in the morally ambiguous world of the “naughty nineties” England where the first rule is never to comment on a likeness when visiting the nursery, she struggles to know what path to follow. Her mother Isabella meets her match in the Double Duchess, a woman who goes through dukedoms like kid gloves. Will Cora find a place in this world of intrigue where everyone knows the rules except her - will she choose the Old World or the New?
Margulies is currently the only cast member attached, but with filming expected to start in the coming weeks, more announcements are expected in due course.
Goodwin will adapt her book for the screen and will serve as the series’ showrunner, with Catherine Morshead, Sandra Goldbacher, and Edward Hall directing. Both Margulies and Goodwin are also executive producers, alongside Stacy Snider, Damian Keogh, Kirstie Macdonald, and Stella Merz. Joanna Crow will produce and Gemma Wright will co-produce. The series is a co-production between Fifth Season, which will also handle global distribution, and MGM+ Studios.
Production on The American Heiress is set to begin in the U.K. before the end of 2026, and is expected to debut as part of the 2027-2028 TV season.
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