This week marks the beginning of the lengthy farewell to worldwide phenomenon ‘Downton Abbey,’ with members of the media invited to have a glimpse at the first episode of season six as ITV preps up to air the final installment early in 2016.
In the last five seasons of the hit ITV period drama, the Crawleys were shown living a life of comfort and lavishness within and even outside the walls of a grand country house as their servants see to their every need.
However, in ‘Downton Abbey’ season six, audiences will get to see Lord and Lady Grantham as they lose their below-stairs staff and gain more knowledge in adapting to severe circumstances, due to the fact that aristocracy begins to decline in the 1920s.
In one of the upcoming episodes, Carson reportedly reminds Lord Grantham that there used to be six footmen and five housemaids; subsequently, they end up with two footmen and housemaids and no kitchen maids at all.
To this, Lord Grantham replies, “Who has an underbutler these days?”
Hugh Bonneville, who takes on the role of the family patriarch, opened up about the final series, which will start airing September and is set in 1925, describing it as having “a flavour of the end of an era.”
“We visit a neighbor in the county who literally has to sell the estate’s silver. This once [great] estate is being fragmented,” the actor shared.
'Robert, the dinosaur that he has been this time does adapt, does see that change is necessary…” Bonnevile added. “He wants to conserve the best of the past but absolutely understands that the future beckons.”
As the hit series prepares for its final run, so is the gracious means of living for the well-loved characters, such as the Dowager Countess played by Dame Maggie Smith.
“That was the trajectory of those houses. They didn’t continue forever, they weren’t financially viable,” executive producer Gareth Neame told TVGuide.com. “So in this final season, we will see the way of life we’ve all enjoyed watching in that show starting to change and evolve in a new way.”
Discussing the ending of the hit show, series creator Julian Fellowes said, “People ask if we knew what was going to happen when we started to make the first series and the answer is that, of course we had no idea.”
Neame added, “We can promise a final season full of all the usual drama and intrigue, but with the added excitement of discovering how and where they all end up.”
As such, the final season will not necessarily shed light on all of the possibilities for the characters nor will it offer flash-forwards.
“We never get to see how Master George runs the estate in the 1950s,” Neame explained. “We don’t have to have completely happy endings, but for the audience it is not a satisfying ending to have the place blown up. It is overwhelmingly a positive show, even when melancholic.”
As the executive producer pointed out, this final Downton installment is set in 1925, which leaves opportunities for a follow-up film in a few years’ time, although there are “no plans for the moment”.
The connection to Wall Street has already been established as Lady Cora, Countess of Granthamn, did carry an American fortune to the Crawley family.
“I didn’t feel I could put Lord Grantham through the Wall Street crash, he has had to endure too much. Were we to make a movie … [there is] so much narrative ahead of us to be mined,” Neame added.
Meanwhile, fans can look forward to the ‘Downton Abbey’ season six premiere on Sunday, Jan. 3.
