'The Gilded Age' resumes filming in Newport. Here's what you need to know

NEWPORT — HBO crews have resumed filming for the second season of "The Gilded Age," a drama from the creator of "Downton Abbey," according to the head of the state film office.

Steven Feinberg, executive director of the Rhode Island Film & TV Office, said the show has doubled the size of its regular cast members, from 12 in the first season to 24 in the new season now being filmed.

While most of the series is set in late 1800s New York City, many of the interior scenes of characters' homes for the first season were filmed in some of Newport's fabled mansions. A few scenes, including at the International Tennis Hall of Fame and The Ledges seaside house, show characters visiting Newport.

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Feinberg said that he expects to see more of Newport being shown as Newport in the second season because one of the characters moves there.

The production will be filming for about two months in Newport this year, but only half of that will be this spring, Feinberg said.

After this month, filming will break to allow tourists to visit the mansions and other Newport sights. It is expected to resume in October or November.

In many ways, filming is easier this time around, Feinberg said.

"Last time, we were jumping through the height and unknown of COVID," he said. "Now, there seems to be a much better grasp on everything."

But that doesn't mean that COVID isn't still affecting the production. Cast and crew are still required to get frequent COVID tests and to wear masks when not appearing on camera, Feinberg said.

"The Gilded Age" is one of two big name productions — along with Disney's "Hocus Pocus 2" — to take advantage of a relatively new change to the state's film tax credit law. Before, more than half a production had to be shot in Rhode Island to qualify.

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That was changed in time for the first season of "The Gilded Age" so that productions qualified for a credit of 30% of what they spent in-state as long as they spent at least $10 million in Rhode Island.

The move was seen as making the state more competitive in wooing big-name productions, such as a James Bond or Indiana Jones movie, because they generally film in multiple locations around the globe.

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Although the state Division of Taxation reports every Aug. 15 how much of a tax break each production received, Feinberg said it is unlikely all of the auditing will be done in time to disclose the credit this year for the first season of "The Gilded Age."

This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: 'The Gilded Age' season 2 starts filming in Newport Rhode Island