Downton Abbey Revisited

In this post I will tell you what I've heard or read that we have to look forward to in Season 3..

Since it was announced that Shirley MacLaine would be crossing the pond, there has been a lot of speculation on how well her character will fit in with the Crawley family.

In an interview with TV Guide Magazine, MacLaine revealed she'll be in the first two episodes and her character Martha Levinson, Lady Cora's (Elizabeth McGovern) mother, comes to Downton from Long Island. Expect Martha to not mesh very well with the division of class at Downton. "I do my best to be kind to tradition, but frankly think it should shift," she said. Does that have anything to do with her interactions with the Dowager Countess (Maggie Smith)? "Our characters' relationship is probably not what you'd think," MacLaine said. "Maggie and I are both so old, we have a lot of time on us to discuss." Masterpiece's Rebecca Eaton, an executive producer on "Downton Abbey" said the two characters do have quite the interaction. "There are some wonderful scenes between Maggie and Shirley MacLaine -- Shirley MacLaine being as ditsy as ever," Eaton said. "I adore Maggie Smith," MacLaine told a blogger for The Huffington Post. "The comedy of class, played so straight, is a wonderful thing for an actor to sink their teeth into." Look for MacLaine's character to also share scenes with Carson. "She fell in love with Carson -- Jim Carter, who plays Carson the butler," Penelope Wilton, or Cousin Isobel to "Downton Abbey" viewers, said. "She thought he was heaven. How could you not?"

Producer Rebecca Eaton also gave an interview to The Orlando Sentinel newspaper recently. During this interview, she revealed "Somebody will be born, and somebody will die.", adding that death will befall "someone pretty key in the cast,"Eaton promises a wedding between Matthew and Lady Mary, Is the baby scoop related to them or Lady Sybil?

Pretty interesting interview. From what I've been reading, the public opinion is that the baby in question is Sybil's. Who will die is generating a lot of talk. Leading the pack of possibilities is Branson with Carson and Lady Violet close seconds. Rumors that Season 3 will be the last for Maggie Smith have been going strong for a while now.

Eaton promises a wedding between Matthew and Lady Mary, Is the baby scoop related to them or Lady Sybil?

In an interview with Entertainment Weekly today, Brendan Coyle, who earned his first emmy nod for playing fan favorite Mr. Bates, says exec producer Gareth Neame announced the grand tally of 16 nominations to the cast. “He was on the phone, and he just came up and he said, ‘Hello, Emmy-nominated Brendan Coyle,’ and I just said, ‘Ah, that’s fantastic.’ I had a real sort of lovely wave of emotion about it, which was very beautiful, and then I had to crack on and get back to work.” Can he tell us anything about the scene he was filming? “Oooh, I really can’t,” he says, with a laugh. (We had to try.) “What I can say is that season 3 begins Mr. Bates in prison, and we’re just shooting scenes from episode 8. If I told you the circumstance of the scene, I would give away something that I can’t. But the scenes did involve myself and Joanne Froggatt [Anna], who’s also been nominated. So I’m so, so happy for her.

”So, my fellow Downtoners, now it's time to hear what you think Season 3 holds in store for us all.