The Gilded Age season 4 release date is November 1, and a stranger is moving into the van Rhijn house

The Gilded Age season 4 premieres November 1 at 9 p.m. ET on HBO and HBO Max, HBO announced in August, with eight episodes rolling out weekly. If HBO doesn't skip a Sunday, the finale lands on December 20.

Now, about that stranger. Back in February, HBO cast Taylor Trensch as Oliver, described only as "a new addition to the van Rhijn household." That's it. That's the whole description. No last name, no job, no reason for being there. A new footman? A long-lost relative? Somebody Oscar owes money to? HBO isn't saying, and the teaser doesn't help.

Trensch is a Broadway guy through and through: he played the title role in Dear Evan Hansen, starred in Bat Boy, and got a Tony nomination for Floyd Collins. Which makes him extremely on-brand for a show that casts straight out of the Broadway directory.

The house he's moving into isn't the one we met in season 1, either. Oscar (Blake Ritson) lost the family fortune in season 2, and season 3 ended with Agnes (Christine Baranski) finally handing her sister Ada (Cynthia Nixon) the head seat at the dinner table, a moment Baranski called "well-earned." According to HBO's logline, Agnes now spots a chance to win her old position back. Judging by the teaser, that chance involves a very important guest:

"The entire reputation of this family depends on the success of the president's dinner."

— Agnes van Rhijn, in the season 4 teaser

Lady Liberty, finally

The president in question is Grover Cleveland, played by Jim Gaffigan, who comes to New York to court the city's elite. Donna Murphy, who plays Mrs. Astor, has said the season is set in 1886. In May, crews set up a parade in Manhattan's Financial District covered in Statue of Liberty flyers.

That lines up with history. The Statue of Liberty was dedicated on October 28, 1886, with Cleveland presiding and New York throwing its first-ever ticker-tape parade. Season 4 premieres four days after the 140th anniversary of that ceremony. The idea came from the show's resident historian, co-executive producer Erica Armstrong Dunbar, and the writers built the season around it:

"It's very circular, and it's a great way to bring it all together."

— Sonja Warfield, executive producer

Everyone else moving in

HBO has told us who's playing the president, John D. Rockefeller, and the editor of The Ladies' Home Journal. It has not told us who Oliver is.

• Taylor Trensch as Oliver, the van Rhijns' mystery arrival.
• Jim Gaffigan as President Grover Cleveland.
• Neal Huff as John D. Rockefeller.
• Dallas Roberts as Daniel Manning, Cleveland's Treasury Secretary.
• Dennis Haysbert as Dr. Reginald Harris, William Kirkland's mentor, in town raising money for the Freedman's Hospital in Washington.
• Bonnie Milligan as Louisa Knapp Curtis, editor of The Ladies' Home Journal.
• James Scully as Lee Klein, an apprentice to painter William Merritt Chase.
• Maggie Kuntz as Fiona Summers, the Astors' free-spirited cousin.
• Adrienne Warren, in a role HBO hasn't revealed.

Meanwhile, the Russells are still in trouble after George (Morgan Spector) walked out at the end of season 3, and Peggy (Denée Benton), now engaged to Dr. William Kirkland (Jordan Donica), spends the season trying to win over his family.