'Downton Abbey' Season 6 Will Be The End Of An Era

Downton Abbey fans, get ready for a rollercoaster of feelings. As the show prepares to finish filming its final season, more Downton Abbey Season 6 spoilers have hit the internet. From the details that've been announced, the show's last episodes seem like they'll not only provide closure for the characters, but give mixed emotions to viewers. Read on to get all of the Season 6 details, but be warned, there are spoilers ahead!

“The final season very much has a flavor of the end of an era,” Hugh Bonneville, who plays Robert Crawley, told the the Television Critics Association on Aug. 1. "We visit a neighbor in the county who literally has to sell the estate's silver. . . this once [great] estate is being fragmented. Robert, the dinosaur that he has been this time. . does adapt. . does see that change is necessary. He wants to conserve the best of the past but absolutely understands that the future beckons."

The final season of Abbey will take place in 1925, so the show will have spanned at least 13 years by its end. Seeing as how the first season showed how the estate was dealing with modernization, it makes sense that the show will wind down right when this transformation is complete.

Those present at the Television Critics Association also saw footage from Season 6, which showed Bonneville's character pressuring his butler, Carson, to downsize the house staff, exhibiting yet another sign of the times.

“Sometimes people lose their jobs,” executive producer Gareth Neame told Vanity Fair, “and have to go out and find another job. It doesn't come across as sad in the show but it will hopefully make it feel like an ending and we will get to the final episode and the camera will drift away and that is the last time we will ever see [those characters].”

Neame also spilled some details on the Crawley sisters and where they will be in Season 6. Yes, Lady Mary's hair is shorter, but she's also taking more control of the family estate. Meanwhile, Lady Edith will be found running around London.

“I love the journey that Edith has gone on,” star Laura Carmichael told press, according to TVLine. “She could have been the most conventional of the three daughters. She wanted a life like her parents and grandparents. Because of the heartache, she had to find a direction path for herself. She’s incredibly resistant.”

Remember that roller coaster ride I mentioned? Well, Neame said the final season has "some shocks and surprises and things that don't quite turn out as you'd expect." Ahhh! However, there is good news: Neame and series creator Julian Fellowes are "definitely considering a film," so this might not be the last time we see the beloved characters.

If you find yourself devastated to see the end of Downton Abbey approaching, you're not alone. The cast is just as sad as you are.

“It was very strange saying goodbye to the castle because it felt like in a split second it wasn't our home anymore," Carmichael said, according to Vanity Fair. "And of course it was never our home. It was Highclere Castle. And the second they yelled cut that day, you realized it was just pretend.”

Added Michelle Dockery, who plays Lady Mary, “Laura and I wandered around for the last time. . . we didn't want to leave. We went and sat on Matthew's bench.”

“And we had a good cry,” added Carmichael.

Downtown Abbey wraps filming on Aug. 15, and the final season will debut in the U.S. on Jan. 3. Get ready: this is going to be a rough ride.

Images: BBC; Giphy (2)