Four years after we last caught up with the Crawleys, when the show came to an end in 2015 after six seasons, we’re now ready to return to Downton Abbey as the British period drama is set for a cinematic revamp later this fall. A brief teaser warned us yesterday to expect the first full trailer for the movie today and sure enough, here it is, giving us a a fresh look at how the household and their staff are doing when the film catches up with them.
Specifically, the trailer reveals that the year is now 1927, moving the story forward a little bit after the end of the TV series. The big news around Downton Abbey is that King George V and Queen Mary have announced they’re coming to visit the country pile, meaning the Earl of Grantham (Hugh Bonneville) and company have a lot of work on their hands to get everything in order. Mary (Michelle Dockery) is left in charge, but she naturally turns to the one man who can save the day: loveable butler Mr. Carson (Jim Carter), who agrees to come out of retirement to help out.
From what we can see here, it looks like all the fan favorites are present and correct in the movie – all those that are feasible, anyway, as Dan Stevens has confirmed he won’t be back after his beloved character Matthew Crawley died on the show. While that’s certainly a shame, there’s still much to look forward to here and Downton diehards will no doubt be particularly tickled by Maggie Smith’s moments in the trailer, which tease that the sarcastic Violet Crawley will be just as sharp as ever in the film.
Downton Abbey creator Julian Fellowes scripted and produced the movie, with Michael Engler directing. It’ll enter theaters first in its native England on September 13th before arriving in the US a week later on September 20th.