The first trailer for the sixth and final season of “Downton Abbey” has arrived, and fans aren’t the only ones who will have trouble letting go.
“If I could stop history in its tracks, maybe I would,” Hugh Bonneville’s Lord Grantham says in the clip, released by ITV on Saturday.
Viewers can likely relate.
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Upon its debut in 2010, the hit period drama kept audiences transfixed with its early 20th century setting, lavish production design and memorable characters. The close-knit relationships between the Crawley family and their team of servants translated off-screen as well, as the actors spoke out about the emotional experience of wrapping the show.
“This final season very much has a flavor of the end of an era, you know, quite literally,” Hugh said during the Masterpiece on PBS panel at the Television Critics Association Summer Tour on Aug. 1.
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Michelle Dockery and Laura Carmichael, who portray rival sisters Mary and Edith Crawley, respectively, agreed. The actresses sat down with Access Hollywood to talk about what it was like on set as production began to wind down.
“She took my hand and she said, ‘Let’s walk through the rooms,'” Michelle said of her and Laura’s final day of filming at Highclere Castle. “We went through the library, through the drawing room, and then we walked out on to the lawn and we went and sat on Matthew’s bench and the two of us were just in pieces.”
The teaser may not reveal many narrative details, but its poignant tone illustrates the inevitable goodbye that lies ahead.
“Neither you nor I can hold back time,” Lord Grantham tells his loyal head valet, Carson (Jim Carter).
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“Downton Abbey” is set to conclude in 1925, kicking off its final episodes six months from where Season 5 left off.
The series will premiere for the last time on PBS on Jan. 3, 2016. It begins airing in the UK on Sept. 20 on ITV.
— Erin Biglow
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