A new “Downton Abbey” Season 6 trailer is here and it hints at changes for the family and their downstairs staff.
Precious works of art are going under the hammer in one scene, while in another, Hugh Bonneville’s Lord Grantham tells Mr. Carson (Jim Broadbent) they perhaps don’t need an “under butler.”
“This final season very much has a flavor of the end of an era, you know, quite literally,” Hugh said at a recent “Downton” press event, addressing the final season. “And it’s brought home to [the characters] when we go to visit a neighbor in the county who is literally having to sell the family silver. … And the entire family sees that, and sees the writing on the wall. You adapt or you die, and I think Robert — [the] dinosaur that he has been at times — ultimately, whether he’s dragged, kicking and screaming by Mary or by his mother or by Cora, does adapt, does see that change is necessary.”
Robert may see that change is necessary, but Mr. Carson is holding on to the past judging by the trailer, including when it comes to addressing his fiancée, Mrs. Hughes (Phyllis Logan), by her first name.
“You don’t think maybe you should start calling me Elsie?” Mrs. Hughes asks him in the sneak peek.
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“Not here, not while we’re working,” he replies.
And it appears the final season won’t go by without giving Dame Maggie Smith’s Dowager Countess some great scenes with her sparring partner. There’s a great tease of a scene of the Dowager and Penelope Wilton’s Isobel Crawley going toe-to-toe.
“Downton Abbey’s” sixth and final season premieres January 3, 2015 on Masterpiece on PBS.
— Jolie Lash
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