Downton Abbey doesn’t return to PBS until Jan. 5, but PBS has just released a Downton Abbey Season 4 preview video to help fans bide their time during what could otherwise be an ungodly four-month wait. Fans in America will have to wait a bit longer for Downton Abbey Season 4 than their counterparts across the Atlantic, since the series will be plagued by the same time delay this season as in seasons past. And no, that wait isn’t going to be easy.
Perhaps more than any year before it, Downton Abbey season 4 has a a ton of questions to address. Most visibly is how Mary will cope with, and move on from, her husband’s tragic demise at the end of Season 3. I mean really, did anyone see the car wreck coming after their son was born? To end the season like that was visceral and brutal. And brilliant.
Undoubtedly Mary will move on, but exactly how she’ll do so isn’t quite clear from the Downton Abbey season 4 preview video PBS released today. Rumors have been rampant all summer long that Mary will find new love within the first few episodes of Downton Abbey season 4. The logic of those rumors isn’t entirely wacky; each season of Downton ABbey covers significant years-long time periods. But even as Mary finding a new lover could make sense chronologically, it could be emotionally taxing on Downton Abbey fans to see her move on after just a few real-world weeks.
Judging from the Downton Abbey season 4 preview video below, it looks like the upcoming season holds many more subplots than Mary’s mourning. And some of them will be entirely new. For instance, why is Mr. Bates crying, and will Tom Branson really be all smiles throughout the entirety of Downton Abbey season 4, or is this teaser just trying to lead us along?
Regardless, watch the preview video and pick it apart. This Downton Abbey season 4 preview video is nice to see, but it is probably just going to make the wait for Jan. 5 seem that much longer.