Watch: Two Clips From Season 3 Of 'Downton Abbey,' Including New Addition Shirley MacLaine

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by Oliver Lyttelton
August 22, 2012 12:06 PM
2 Comments

After the hugely disappointing second season of the show, which crossed over from trashily entertaining to just plain dull, we were wondering if there was anything that could win us back to the third season of smash-hit costume drama "Downton Abbey." And then creator Julian Fellowes went and cast Shirley MacLaine. The 78-year-old veteran Hollywood star, famous for films like "The Apartment" and "Terms of Endearment" among many, many others, is joining the show's cast as the mother of Elizabeth McGovern's Countess of Grantham, and the potential to watch her trade barbs with Maggie Smith is certainly enough to have us setting the DVR for new episodes.

And that certainly hasn't changed after watching a couple of brief new clips from the upcoming third season. The first sets the scene for MacLaine's arrival, and the second sees her doing the impossible, leaving Smith's Dowager Countess speechless. It's not like Fellowes has suddenly turned into Ingmar Bergman or anything, but it does promise that her presence could be a real breath of fresh air for the show. There's no exact word on when the series will begin airing again, but if it follows the patterns of the first two seasons, it's likely to get underway on ITV in the U.K. next month before making it to the U.S. in January, or thereabouts. Watch the two clips below.

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Kate | September 10, 2012 8:22 PMReply

Trashily entertaining and plain dull? Clearly you need to turn and watch the other "crap" on television. This is one of the best series on television right now. If you want to talk about trash, why don't you spend a moment watching the bachelorette for the hundreth season where the women fall in love in minutes, marry and then divorce for their 15minutes of fame. Or yet another trashy sitcom where all they discuss is sleeping around, dating, and who's the babies daddy. Give me a break!
justin | August 22, 2012 2:48 PMReply

ok, hugely disappointing seems a bit harsh. the second season was not as enthralling or emotionally intense as the first but i think it captured the wartime spirit and its effects on the house quite well.