Everything We Learned About Downton Abbey: A New Era From The New Trailer

Since it was revealed that another "Downton Abbey" would be released in 2022, the fanfare surrounding the upcoming film has only heightened with each passing day. Since the television show first debuted in 2010, fans have fallen in love with the characters like the Dowager Countess, Lady Mary Crawley, and Anna Smith who have brought the 1920s to life. The second movie, "Downton Abbey: A New Era" is set to be released in the late spring, and will satisfy even the most apprehensive fans, since it will feature the entire cast from the television show — even Maggie Smith (who portrays the Dowager Countess), who has been reluctant to reprise her role in the past, per Vogue.

While speaking with People in November, "Downton Abbey" creator Julian Fellowes revealed that the upcoming movie will truly be transporting viewers to a new era. "The further the '20s went along, the more the world was changing in so many ways. Everything from entertainment to transport was really different by the end of the '20s. That's what we're referring to in that," Fellowes told People.

Vogue reported that "Downton Abbey: A New Era" will follow the cast as they transform Downton Abbey into a backdrop for a film. Tom Branson will also be getting married and the Dowager Countess receives a shocking inheritance — a luxurious French villa. Read on to learn more about what the new trailer has divulged about the upcoming film.

On Tuesday, the trailer for "Downton Abbey: A New Era" was released, and, judging from the trailer, the movie is set to be chock-full of delightful drama. For starters, several new cast members were introduced to viewers, including Hugh Dancy as the filmmaker who is coming to Downton Abbey to shoot the aforementioned movie, along with Dominic West, Laura Haddock, Nathalie Baye, and Jonathan Zaccaï, per People. Returning stars Maggie Smith, Hugh Bonneville, Elizabeth McGovern, Michelle Dockery, Laura Carmichael, Jim Carter, Brendan Coyle, Kevin Doyle, Joanne Froggatt, Harry Hadden-Paton, Robert James-Collier, Allen Leech, Phyllis Logan, Sophie McShera, Tuppence Middleton, Lesley Nicol, Imelda Staunton, and Penelope Wilton also make brief appearances during the trailer.

The trailer seems to suggest that the movie will follow the story behind the Dowager Countess' French villa and the illicit affair behind it (viewers finally get an in-depth look at her past!), Tom Branson's wedding, marriage troubles between Lady Mary Crawley and her husband, Henry Talbot, and all of the drama that ensues as a large cast of characters descend upon Downton Abbey to film a movie. It also appears as though the family will be spending quite a bit of time at the Dowager Countess' French villa, and they will even get a glimpse of what the beloved matriarch looked like as a young woman. Of course, the Dowager Countess handles the airing of her dirty laundry with her usual wit.