Everything We Know About The Age Of Innocence – Netflix’s New Period Drama

It seems we’ve grown obsessed with the American fin de siècle in recent years. First there was HBO’s The Gilded Age, released in 2022 – a late 19th century tale of New York’s wealthiest families. Then there was Apple TV’s The Buccaneers (based on Edith Wharton’s novel of the same name) in 2023 – in which a group of wealthy young American women travel to London during the 1870s Gilded Age to secure husbands and aristocratic titles. And now we’ve got Netflix’s take on the period with a new Edith Wharton novel coming to our screens in the form of The Age of Innocence. Here’s everything we know about the new period drama. 

The Age Of Innocence: Cast, Plot, Release Date & More

AGE OF INNOCENCE. (L to R) Ben Radcliffe as Newland Archer and Kristine Froseth as May Welland in Episode 107 of Age of Innocence. Cr. Courtesy of Netflix © 2026

What Is The Age Of Innocence About?

Originally published on 25 October 1920, The Age of Innocence was an instant classic, making its author Edith Wharton the first female winner of the Pulitzer Prize for fiction. As well as referring to the lost (sexual) innocence of its characters, the title simultaneously refers to the lost innocence of their new-fangled age, with its newly Godless society, sexual awakenings and technological revolution. 

Looking back 50 years before its publication, the novel is set amongst the high society of 1870s New York. It follows Newland Archer, a well-to-do lawyer engaged to the sweet and innocent May Welland. However, all unravels when May’s cousin, Countess Ellen Olenska, returns to the city from Paris, scandalously intent on divorcing her husband. Newland can’t help but fall for this modern and exciting woman, leaving him torn between the callings of passion and duty. 

AGE OF INNOCENCE. (L to R) Kristine Froseth as May Welland and Emma Shipp as Janey Archer in Episode 101 of Age of Innocence. Cr. Chris Baker/Netflix © 2025

The novel has previously been adapted in Martin Scorsese’s 1993 film starring Daniel Day-Lewis, Michelle Pfeiffer, and Winona Ryder, which earned five Academy Award nominations and won one for Best Costume Design.

Following in the footsteps of other steamy period dramas (Rivals, Bridgerton and The Great to name a few), this new adaptation has been sold as a less buttoned-up take than previous iterations. As showrunner Emma Frost told Vanity Fair, Wharton in fact wrote two alternate endings to the novel, each containing ‘explicit sexual content’ inspired by her own passionate affair with journalist William Morton Fullerton. The version that was eventually published, contained no sex at all. 

AGE OF INNOCENCE. Ben Radcliffe as Newland Archer in Episode 104 of Age of Innocence. Cr. Chris Baker/Netflix © 2025

Where the novel is told entirely from Archer’s perspective, Frost also wanted to give more voice to the characters of May and Ellen, including their point of view in this new tale. ‘I wanted to have these two women really existing as flesh-and-blood women who we can care about.’

AGE OF INNOCENCE. (L to R) Camila Morrone as Ellen Olenska, Ben Radcliffe as Newland Archer, and Kristine Froseth as May Welland in Episode 101 of Age of Innocence. Cr. Chris Baker/Netflix © 2025

Who Stars?

In the Netflix telling, English actor Ben Radcliffe (Masters of the Air) plays Newland, with Kristine Frøseth (The Buccaneers) as May and Camila Morrone (Daisy Jones & The Six) as Ellen. Frost is excited for viewers to be enchanted by her starring trio. ‘Ben Radcliffe was a revelation as Newland. Cami is fearless as a performer,’ Frost says. ‘Kristine made May effervescent and open, innocent, and hopeful.’ 

Find the full cast list below:

• Kristine Froseth (The Buccaneers) as May Welland
• Camila Morrone (Daisy Jones & The Six) as Ellen Olenska
• Ben Radcliffe (Masters of the Air) as Newland Archer
• Margo Martindale (The Americans) as Mrs. Manson Mingott, May and Ellen’s grandmother
• Fiona Glascott (Fantastic Beasts) as May’s mother Augusta Welland
• Belinda Bromilow (The Great) as Adeline Archer, Newland’s mother
• Emma Shipp (Rivals) as Newland’s sister, Janey Archer
• Hayley Mills (Trap) as Louisa van der Luyden, Adeline’s cousin
• Michael Cochrane (Downton Abbey) as Henry van der Luyden, Adeline’s cousin
• Ryan Morgan (Mix Tape) as Lawrence Lefferts, Newland’s friend
• Kel Matsena (Mix Tape) as Ned Winsett, Newland’s friend
• Lucia Balordi (A testa alta) as Nastasia, Ellen’s lady’s maid
• Steven Pacey (MobLand) as John Welland, May’s father
• Will Tudor (Industry) as Sillerton Jackson, Newland’s friend
• Elly Roberts (Sex Education) as Edith Mingott, May and Ellen’s cousin
• Jack Cutmore-Scott (Frasier) as banker Julius Beaufort
• Anna Madeley (All Creatures Great and Small) as Ellen’s Aunt Medora
• John Light (Showtrial) as Mr. Lovell Mingott, May and Ellen’s uncle.

Release Date

The eight-episode series arrives on Netflix on 18 February, 2027.