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'Downton Abbey': A trailer for season six and a look at what's to come

The sixth and final season of 'Downton' is set to debut in September in Britain and in January in the US. Here's what we know about the end of the popular costume drama.

The last season of 鈥淒ownton Abbey鈥� will soon debut in Britain.聽

鈥淒ownton,鈥� which follows the fortunes of a well-to-do British family and their servants through the beginning of the twentieth century, has aired for five seasons. The sixth will debut in Britain on Sept. 20 and in the United States on Jan 3.

The program airs on ITV in Britain and on PBS in the US and is the most popular drama ever on PBS. It debuted in 2010 in Britain and in 2011 in the US (the show usually debuts in the fall in Britain and sometime in January in America) and has won multiple Emmy Awards and Golden Globes, including a Golden Globe for best miniseries or motion picture made for television.

A trailer for the sixth season of 鈥淒ownton鈥� shows the Earl of Grantham, Robert Crawley (Hugh Bonneville), telling butler Carson (Jim Carter), 鈥淚f I could stop history in its tracks, maybe I would. But I can鈥檛, Carson. You nor I can hold back time.鈥澛�

What do we know about the show鈥檚 sixth and final season? It will reportedly be set in 1925.聽

Eldest daughter Mary Crawley features prominently in ITV鈥檚 promo for the final season, and show producer Gareth Neame has discussed the new character of Henry Talbot (Matthew Goode), whom Mary met at a shooting party. 鈥淲e like this idea that Mary has now been single for a while, and she鈥檚 had enough time to grieve her marriage and to honor her late husband, but to know that she will marry again one day,鈥� he . 鈥淪he just has no idea who. That鈥檚 why she鈥檚 had all of these different suitors that she鈥檚 considered, but she hasn鈥檛 done anything about it. I鈥檓 also interested in how her first marriage to Matthew was relatively straightforward, and when you get married a second time, whether because of divorce or bereavement, it鈥檚 much more complicated. A mature marriage in your thirties compared to a first relationship in your twenties, there鈥檚 a lot more at stake, and I think that鈥檚 interesting.鈥�

One of the 鈥淒ownton鈥� maids, Anna (Joanne Froggatt), and her husband, valet Bates (Brendan Coyle), have been involved in a plot line for some time involving a valet named Green who raped Anna and was later murdered. Mr. Neame of the story, 鈥淢r. Green was a very complicated, dark individual, and the ramifications of all of that are still haunting them. They鈥檙e going to continue giving us story fuel with more episodes to come.鈥�

Fans may also be wondering whether the characters of Rose Aldridge (Lily James), a Crawley cousin, and son-in-law Tom Branson (Allen Leech) will be on board for the new season. In the final episode of season five, Rose was moving to New York with her new husband and Tom seemed set to go to Boston with his daughter, Sybbie.

However, Neame didn鈥檛 rule out appearances by either in the new season. 鈥淏oth their characters have traveled to America to make new lives, but they are members of this family, so a visit home may well happen at some time,鈥� he said in another .

And Leech tweeted in August,聽

Meanwhile, James said in an of the new season, 鈥淚'm really hoping to come back. I feel like it's definitely going to happen.鈥�

While 鈥淒ownton鈥� got PBS into the limelight for many and showed a costume drama can succeed today ("Downton" creator Julian Fellowes is set to work on a drama titled "The Gilded Age" for NBC), it also highlighted a problem with our new global view of TV. With shows like 鈥淒ownton鈥� and British exports 鈥淪herlock鈥� and 鈥淕racepoint,鈥� among many others, becoming popular, many viewed the 鈥淒ownton鈥� model, in which American viewers had to wait months to watch it officially, as old-fashioned. As evidenced by the release dates, however, the final season of 鈥淒ownton鈥� will follow the same schedule as before.