elizabeth mcgovern, hugh bonneville, michelle dockery, laura carmichael, phyllis logan, & jim carter with the rest of the cast for “‘downton abbey’ celebrates ‘the grand finale’” (releasing september 2025) | 📸: focus features
elizabeth mcgovern with hugh bonneville, michelle dockery, laura carmichael, & the cast of “downton abbey,” promotional poster for “downton abbey: the grand finale” (releasing september 2025) | 📸: focus features
elizabeth mcgovern with hugh bonneville, as the countess and earl of grantham, promotional poster for “downton abbey: the grand finale” (releasing september 2025) | 📸: focus features
elizabeth mcgovern with hugh bonneville, as the countess and earl of grantham, promotional still for “downton abbey: the grand finale” (releasing september 2025) | 📸: focus features
(First things first, Edith in stripes! Edith in stripes! Sorry, I just adore stripes, so I love this look on Edith.)
So it seems like the big drama with Harold and money is going to revolve around there no longer being money to repair some cottages, and turn a library into a music room to honour Violet and Martha (who is now confirmed to be dead).
I always suspected that the selling Downton hints in the trailer were misdirection, and as the family is considering a sentimental (as opposed to practical) measure like making a music room, it suggests that the family, although banking on Cora's family's money, does not start of in grave financial peril
Mary is given a particularly bold and confident look for a very exclusive ball, which she wears unaware that her world is about to come "crashing down", so it seems like this happens in the early days of her divorce, and she's just beginning to realise what the consequences are.
Mary will buy that dress while on a shopping trip with Edith. Will never say no to a shipping montage. Will be fun to see these two out shopping together. We saw they were already on good terms by last movie (Edith helped Mary with initial negotiations over the film). I wouldn't be surprised if this is the opening sequence. Mary and Edith swanning about shops, looking glamorous, feels like a fun way of opening things. Then that tea shot will be used for exposition. That's my betting anyway.
I called it that the hostess is hurrying Mary out of the room because there is royalty on the way. There's no way Mary's divorcee status wouldn't otherwise be known, and the hostess would have known Mary was present until now, so the arrival of royalty makes sense for the hostess trying to hastily get her out of the way.
We've got confirmation that Henry had an affair, which I suspected it must be, as adultery was really the only way of getting a divorce back then, and it was Mary filing for divorce. It'll be interesting to see if Henry still wanted to stay with Mary or not.
I'm very interested in that line about Henry "hiring and naming someone else in court", does that mean he hired someone to pretend to be his affair partner? I hope this means we get a look at the legal technicalities of getting divorced back then.
The winning back the county through "special guests" makes me believe they use their celebrity ties through Thomas and Guy to have a celebrity party. This will be the dinner party we see at the beginning of the trailer, where Robert does the toast for Mary. We see Mary and Edith wearing the same dresses at that dinner, later on as they're clapping Guy and random hot guy (who was making eyes at Mary because of course she would have another love interest) playing piano (Thomas is at that party too). So I think that the social scandal in Yorkshire will be resolved that way.
Going downstairs, we've also got confirmation that Mrs Patmore and Daisy are separating.
My bet is that Daisy will be taking over the kitchens, while Mrs Patmore retires to her Bed and Breakfast with Mr Mason.
There's going to be Ascot drama, which will be fun! I speculated early on that Mary's exclusion from the Royal enclosure will be brought up, and some sharp eyed fans noticed that everyone except Mary is wearing name tags for the Royal Enclosure (including Tom, which is...something)
A big cheer for Bertie, who has arranged a lunch for the Granthams in White's Marquee, where Mary is watching the race. Lovely, lovely Bertie, sorting out lunch for everyone. I'm expecting (demanding) some close ups of the food.
Here we get plot hints for Tom and Edith! Yay! I wasn't really expecting them to have a "plot", so much as just watching them react to the drama going on with Downton while generally vibing. Edith having a "showdown" with a "trickster", new character Gus Sambrook, sounds fun, and Tom meets an old friend. The reference to America makes me think this friend is someone he knew when he was in Boston with Sybbie. Whoever this Gus is, it sounds like he is seeking introductions at the race. I don't know how much screentime this plotline will have, but if Edith is to have a specific reasons for being the one to have a showdown, then it might be because she and Bertie, as the Marquess and Marchioness, might be particular targets of his. I hope Edith gets to have fun with her showdown, and I'm looking forward to Tom meeting an old pal. I also hope that the business Tom shared with Henry gets brought up, so it isn't entirely forgotten. Considering Henry has been travelling, Tom will have been the one running it anyway.
And the movie will end with Robert and Cora moving to the Dower House, where Violet used to live. I'm sure that Robert will have bittersweet feelings about this, and that Hugh will bring all the pathos.
elizabeth mcgovern with laura carmichael, harry hadden-paton, allen leech, hugh bonneville, & michelle dockery, trailer for “downton abbey: the grand finale” (shared june 2025)
I finally have something to actually speculate on!!
First of all, thanks to Anon who alerted me about the trailer being out in the world. And then second to the person who posted it, and then third, that Twitter (I'm sorry, X 🙄) was functioning at the time so that I could see it.
Anyway a few thoughts:
I have a feeling the front of this is cut off (dude had to get his phone out to film and all). I'm also thinking that we still won't get the full thing uploaded properly until maybe the end of this week. I realized the same thing happened with Belfest showings and DA: ANE. I'm also assuming that this is just the first teaser, and we'll get something longer later on. The releases of the teasers and trailers for the other two films don't match each other to begin with, so idk when that will be...
I do think this might indeed be what was shown at CinemaCon, assuming that the first few moments that are cut off match. That said, this is also a prime example of how people describing a trailer they have seen once can be off and imply things that aren't quite... right... whoops (unless of course, we didn't get the same clips, which is also possible--iirc, what was shown at CinemaCon for the first film didn't match any one public trailer/teaser, so I'll give them some benefit of the doubt lol).
Regardless, I think that the trailer is misleading on purpose, and the parts with Robert are a red herring, which is where my true speculation begins lol.
It seems to me that the parts with Robert and Cora in the car is them returning to the Abbey, and Robert's tie when it comes out of the car and looks up is him looking up (at the Abbey) matches his tie in the car. Also I'm pretty sure the footman who walks by is Albert.
Cora then seems to be wearing the same outfit that she was in the car when she's over talking to Mary, Edith, Tom, et al. It then cuts to Robert and while I cannot be certain in LQ, but he appears to be in the same outfit. Meanwhile, George also appears in the frame, and has no overcoat, jacket, nor hat on. One else is really dressed like they are heading out (although Tom has a hat in his hands).
Thus... I think Robert is kissing the abbey... hello!
Maybe I'm way off the mark, but that's my thoughts on that lol
The teaser thus far is very lean on plot, which makes me think that this film is actually more like the Christmas Specials, and also makes me very hopeful that the film focuses on their lives vs. some big event like the other two films. Doesn't mean they won't have 'events' within the film (I mean the CSs still had parties and balls etc), but that it's centered more on the characters' lives vs. them reacting to a (somewhat OTT) plot. It makes me hopeful this is more character driven than the first two films. And I think this is likely why we haven't been given any real hints at an overarching plot before this point, because there's no "the royals are coming! French villa! Motion picture filming within a film!" to advertise. Anything that is more like the TV show is more than welcome in my book. And I mean if the overarching plot is "the Crawleys might lose the house," that's a rinse and repeat from the show and I'm down with that.
I will also point out that the trailer didn't show us much of the entire cast, but I was grateful for the bits with Anna and Bates. The CinemaCon write-ups implied seeing more of everyone at the beginning of the teaser, so maybe we'll see more when we see the whole thing.
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