Hugh Bonneville’s Robert, the Earl of Grantham, has appeared to kiss his country estate goodbye in the trailer for Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale.
The movie is promoted as bidding “farewell” to the Yorkshire-set series about the life of the landed gentry and their servants that began with a TV show before a series of films.
It sees the return of Bonneville; Michelle Dockery as Lady Mary; Elizabeth McGovern as Cora Crawley, Countess of Grantham; Laura Carmichael as Lady Edith; Jim Carter as the butler Charles ‘Charlie’ Carson; and Joanne Froggatt as Anna Bates.
The teaser begins with the family attending an opulent day at the races, and Mr Carson as an announcer saying: “Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to 1930.”
The following clips show London theatrical productions, Dominic West as Guy Dexter and Lady Edith telling Lady Mary that she will be a “sensation”.
The family then return to Downton Abbey, where a painting of Dame Maggie Smith’s Violet Crawley, Dowager Countess of Grantham, who died in the 2022 film Downton Abbey: A New Era, is shown along with dances and the staff.
Last year, Oscar-winning actress Dame Maggie died in September at the age of 89, with Bonneville remembering her at the time as a “true legend of her generation”.
The trailer shows the words: “It’s almost time to bid farewell” before ending with the family and staff all waiting outside the grand estate, while the Earl presses his finger to his lips and then places them on the wall.
Starting as a series in 2010, the programme won a number of awards, including 15 Emmys, with three of them going to Dame Maggie for outstanding supporting actress in a drama series.
The series, the final of which aired on TV on Christmas Day in 2015, has also won a special TV Bafta award and earned Dame Maggie a nod.
Released in 2019, the first film in the trilogy depicted a royal visit to the Crawley family and Downton staff, while the second film, Downton Abbey: A New Era, saw them travel to France after Violet inherited a villa.
Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale will release in cinemas on September 12.
