The Gilded Age Season 3 Finale recap: Is George Russell alive?

In The Gilded Age Season 3, George Russell survives the shooting. In My Mind Is Made Up (Season 3, Episode 8), which aired August 10, 2025 on HBO and streamed on Max, George is rushed home and saved by Dr. William Kirkland in an emergency operation assisted by Marian.

Directed by Salli Richardson-Whitfield and written by Julian Fellowes and Sonja Warfield, the hour pushes the Russells toward a separation even as Newport throws its most opulent ball.

The episode stars Carrie Coon, Morgan Spector, Louisa Jacobson, Christine Baranski, Cynthia Nixon, Denée Benton, Taissa Farmiga, Harry Richardson, Blake Ritson, Nathan Lane, Kelley Curran, and Sullivan Jones.

Executive producers include Julian Fellowes, Gareth Neame, David Crockett, Salli Richardson-Whitfield, Michael Engler, Bob Greenblatt, and Sonja Warfield.

Official listings put the runtime at about 71 minutes. The Gilded Age closes the season by resolving George’s fate but leaving his marriage in limbo.

George Russell’s fate and the fallout, explained

The finale opens with George being carried into his Fifth Avenue home after the gunshot at the end of Episode 7. Hospitals are avoided. Dr. William Kirkland happens to be nearby and performs surgery in the parlour with Marian assisting.

George pulls through, but the recovery triggers a blunt reckoning with Bertha over Gladys’s arranged marriage to the Duke of Buckingham.

He tells Bertha he can’t continue as before and departs for New York without her, making clear that the problem is trust, not love.

The Gilded Age answers the life-or-death question early, then pivots to consequences for the family.

At Newport, Bertha goes forward with the ball, consolidating social capital even as the household fractures. Larry condemns the way his mother handled Gladys’s future, while Marian, fresh from helping save George, edges back toward Larry romantically.

Their reconciliation is quiet, not grand, consistent with how The Gilded Age typically resets relationships at a season’s end.

Gladys announces she is pregnant, reframing Bertha’s “victory” and complicating George’s frustration. The reveal lands as practical news rather than a twist: the next generation is arriving whether the parents are aligned or not. The Gilded Age uses the pregnancy to underline the split screen between Bertha’s public triumph and private loss.

Peggy’s storyline turns on class tension within the Kirklands. After Elizabeth Kirkland’s earlier disdain, William proposes to Peggy at the ball in front of her parents, Dorothy and Arthur, signalling his choice to stand with her over his mother’s objections.

The engagement threads The Gilded Age’s season-long focus on status and respectability politics through a personal resolution.

Across town, Oscar van Rhijn pivots from grief to strategy, proposing a marriage of convenience to Mrs. Winterton (formerly Turner).

The arrangement would leverage her money and his connections, telegraphing a power-moves subplot for next season.

Meanwhile, Agnes and Ada quietly reset their household order, with Ada taking the head of the table as Agnes accepts a new public role.

The Gilded Age keeps these beats efficient: alliance, announcement, adjustment.

Episode credits, release details, and who’s in the room

The Gilded Age Season 3, Episode 8, is titled My Mind Is Made Up. It premiered Sunday, August 10, 2025, at 9 p.m. ET on HBO and streamed on Max. HBO’s schedule lists the episode at roughly 1 hour and 11 minutes.

The episode is directed by Salli Richardson-Whitfield; writing is credited to Julian Fellowes with Sonja Warfield.

Season-level executive producers include Fellowes, Gareth Neame, David Crockett, Salli Richardson-Whitfield, Michael Engler, Bob Greenblatt, and Sonja Warfield.

The Gilded Age primary finale cast and key characters featured:

1) Carrie Coon (Bertha Russell) and Morgan Spector (George Russell), whose marriage enters a separation-without-divorce limbo after his survival and departure.

2) Louisa Jacobson (Marian Brook) and Harry Richardson (Larry Russell), who reconcile.

3) Taissa Farmiga (Gladys Russell), who reveals she is pregnant.

4) Denée Benton (Peggy Scott) and Sullivan Jones (Dr. William Kirkland), newly engaged despite his family’s prior bias.

5) Nathan Lane (Ward McAllister), whose society manoeuvring continues to wobble after his memoir drama.

6) Kelley Curran (Mrs. Winterton/Turner) and Blake Ritson (Oscar van Rhijn), who agree to a strategic marriage. The Gilded Age positions each for next season’s conflicts.

The Gilded Age confirms George Russell is alive. The Russells’ union is damaged but not legally broken. Peggy is engaged. Marian and Larry are back on. Oscar and Mrs. Winterton are aligned.

Gladys’s pregnancy stabilizes the Buckingham alliance. Across eight episodes, The Gilded Age uses the finale to close life-or-death uncertainty and open social, marital, and political fronts for Season 4.

Stay tuned for more updates.