Downton Abbey: A New Era Trailer Turns Crawley’s Home into a Film Set

The official trailer for Downton Abbey: A New Era just dropped and it’s the making of a motion picture within a motion picture.

Maggie Smith’s Dowager is busy with her own surprise inheritance as a man she met once upon a time ago has left her a villa in the south of France. As she cheekily smiles and leaves everyone to discuss her “mysterious past,” the filming of a movie causes ruckus at Downton.

DOWNTON ABBEY: A NEW ERA - Official Trailer [HD] - Only in Theaters May 20

Nine months after the events of the first film, the Crawleys are bracing themselves to accept the modern world, much to the staff’s excitement and Lord Grantham’s disapproval.

An ambitious Hollywood filmmaker enters with a whole band of crew and equipment along with actresses “plastered in makeup” and actors who are just “plastered.”

There are other exciting sets of affairs going on as the villa prepares for a wedding. As secrets begin to unfold, we soon discover the Countess has a mysterious connection that goes way back with the villa’s history.

The Countess has some more iconic quotes of wisdom, “Women like us fall into two categories, dragons and fools. You must make sure they think of you as a dragon.”

Creator Julian Fellowes talked to PEOPLE recently about how this film really focuses on ‘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.”

The trailer’s ending shows us how Violet really feels about this modern development of things as she snickers to a laughing Isobel, “I should have thought the best thing about films is that you can’t hear them… Be even better if you couldn’t see them either!”

But whatever the Crawleys think about the moving pictures, one thing Fellowes can promise is that the audience will have a good time and thoroughly enjoy this one.

I like the idea that people go into the movie and have a great two hours and then go out to have dinner. That seems to me to be a good thing. If we are useful for cheering people up and giving them an easy time of it, that doesn’t bother me.

After countless delays, Downton Abbey: A New Era is finally set to arrive in theaters on May 20, 2022.

About Downton Abbey 2

Downton Abbey 2 is the upcoming sequel to the 2019 film Downton Abbey. The first Downton Abbey film came out almost 4 years after the series ended and continued the storyline from the series, with much of the original cast returning.

Along with the original cast, some new additions including Hugh Dancy, Laura Haddock, Nathalie Baye, and Dominic West in undisclosed roles. The screenplay is written by Julian Fellowes, with Gareth Neame and Liz Trubridge producing with Fellowes. Simon Curtis replaced the first film’s director Michael Engler for the sequel.

The films are the continuing story of the Crawley family, wealthy owners of a large estate in the English countryside in the early twentieth century. Although, plot details remain unknown, the synopsis reads, ‘Lord and Lady Grantham request the pleasure of moviegoers’ company at their Yorkshire country estate this Christmas.’