With the 1930s swiftly approaching, modernity knocks on Downton Abbey’s door. The Crawleys, on the lookout for new revenue streams to keep the estate afloat, allow a motion picture to be shot in the castle while also sorting out the mystery of an exquisite French villa that’s been bequeathed to the family.

Downton Abbey: A New Era continues the upstairs-downstairs drama of the highbrow Crawleys and their devoted servants into the turn of the decade. Set after the six-season series, created by Julian Fellowes (The Gilded Age), and Downton Abbey: The Motion Picture, which is also streaming on Netflix, the period piece stars series regulars like Hugh Bonneville, Elizabeth McGovern, Maggie Smith, Imelda Staunton, and Michelle Dockery. It also introduces veteran actors Dominic West and Hugh Dancy as new characters invading Downton.

When will Downton Abbey: A New Era be released?

Stream it now.

Who’s in the cast of Downton Abbey: A New Era?

Returning cast:

• Hugh Bonneville (Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey) as Robert Crawley, 7th Earl of Grantham
• Elizabeth McGovern (Downton Abbey: The Motion Picture) as Cora Crawley, Countess of Grantham
• Maggie Smith (A Boy Called Christmas) as Violet Crawley, Dowager Countess of Grantham
• Imelda Staunton (The Crown) as Lady Maud Bagshaw
• Penelope Wilton (Operation Mincemeat) as Lady Isobel Merton
• Michelle Dockery (Godless) as Lady Mary Talbot
• Laura Carmichael (Marcella) as Edith Pelham, Marchioness of Hexham
• Harry Hadden-Paton (Grantchester) as Herbert “Bertie” Pelham, 7th Marquess of Hexham
• Allen Leech (Downton Abbey: The Motion Picture) as Tom Branson
• Tuppence Middleton (Sense8) as Lucy Branson
• Joanne Froggatt (Angela Black) as Anna Bates
• Brendan Coyle (Toxic Town) as John Bates
• Robert James-Collier (Fate: The Winx Saga) as Thomas Barrow
• Kevin Doyle (Paranoid) as Joseph Molesley
• Jim Carter (Downton Abbey: The Motion Picture) as Mr. Charles Carson
• Sophie McShera (Galavant) as Daisy Parker
• Lesley Nicol (Once Upon a Time) as Mrs. Beryl Patmore
• Raquel Cassidy (The Worst Witch) as Phyllis Baxter

New to the cast:

• Dominic West (Money Monster) as Guy Dexter
• Hugh Dancy (Confessions of a Shopaholic) as Jack Barber
• Laura Haddock (The Recruit) as Myrna Dalgleish
• Nathalie Baye (Criminal: France) as Madame de Montmirail
• Jonathan Zaccaï (The Bureau) as Édouard, Marquis de Montmirail

What happens in Downton Abbey: A New Era?

Tom (Leech), the Crawleys’ former driver and son-in-law, is marrying his second wife, Lucy (Middleton), and the Crawleys’ granddaughter, Sybbie (Fifi Hart), is gaining a new stepmother: Everything seems to be coming up Downton at the beginning of A New Era. But as the happy new family drives off into the sunset, multiple inheritance issues are brewing. As the daughter of the late middle Crawley sister, Sybil (Jessica Brown Findlay), who gave up her wealth to marry Tom, Sybbie will not inherit Downton, and she has no other inheritance. When the Dowager Countess of Grantham (Smith) mysteriously inherits the Villa of the Doves in the South of France from the late Marquis de Montmirail, she sees an opportunity to secure Sybbie’s future. 

While the Dowager’s son, the Earl of Grantham (Bonneville), can’t fathom why a random French aristocrat who briefly crossed paths with his mother decades ago would leave her an estate, he agrees to go meet the new Marquis de Montmirail with his wife, Cora (McGovern), his youngest daughter, Edith (Carmichael), Tom, and Lucy. When the party arrives, they find an aristocratic French family at odds over whether to honor the late Marquis de Montmirail’s will — and a stunning miniature portrait of the Dowager Countess in her youth that hints at a more sordid affair than the Crawleys could ever have imagined. The Earl of Grantham wonders if his paternity — and inheritance — is now also up for debate. 

Back at Downton, Mary (Dockery), the Crawley’s eldest daughter, steps into the Dowager’s shoes as the matriarch of the family. With the Abbey’s roof in need of urgent repairs and the estate still dealing with the economic impact of the Great War, Mary allows a British director named Jack Barber (Dancy) to shoot a silent picture inside Downton for an astronomical location fee. The downstairs servants are delighted by the chance to be surrounded by the glitz and glamour of movie stars. But when they arrive, the stars and the staff clash, and that’s just the beginning: Halfway through the shoot, the studio shuts the production down, because the bigwigs want to pivot to talkies. It looks like the project is dead until Mary pitches a brilliant plan to save the motion picture — and her beloved Downton. 

Is Downton Abbey: A New Era based on a book?

No, Downton Abbey: A New Era is not based on a book. There are companion books based on the Downton Abbey franchise written by Jessica Fellowes, which are supplemental to the series.

Is Downton Abbey: A New Era based on a true story?

Downton Abbey: A New Era is not based on a true story, but the film incorporates several real-life historical shifts, like the burgeoning British film industry’s evolution from silent films to talkies, which were considered a technological marvel.

Where does Downton Abbey: A New Era take place?

Downton Abbey: A New Era takes place primarily at the fictional Downton Abbey estate in Hampshire, England, and also at the fictional Villa of the Doves, the Dowager Countess’s new inheritance in the south of France.

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