‘Downton Abbey’ season 3 spoilers: What we know about Christmas special

You have to give some serious credit to the producers of “Downton Abbey” season 3 at this very moment. Their Christmas special is now only a month and a half away from airing, but we still know so little about it that almost the entire ordeal is shrouded in mystery. This will likely stay that way until we get a week or two away from the show finally airing, and at that point producers may finally submit to giving us some more information just about what is happening via a promo or a press release.

For now, what we can tell you is this: the special was taping in August using some of the same sort of locations that you would expect to see on the show, and that it will be a two-hour episode just as it was this past year. When you think about it, this more or less extends the past two years of “Downton Abbey” to ten episodes, which puts it at the same length as some HBO series such as “Game of Thrones” or “The Newsroom.” (That bit of trivia is for those of you constantly complaining that the show is too short.)

There are rumors floating around that suggest this special may not be set during the holidays, but these for the time being are not confirmed. Even if this is the case, the special is still expected to celebrate the spirit of the holiday; given that this special actually airs on Christmas Day, it’s hard to see it being overly depressing on the same level as Sybil dying during childbirth.

What we are a bit more curious about is whether or not we will be handed any answers pertaining to the show’s greatest mysteries in this special, including whether or not Dan Stevens and Maggie Smith are going to return to the show. If Julian Fellowes knew in advance that they were each not going to be back (though this is unlikely), he may have created something in the script to send Matthew or Violet away from the Abbey.

What do you want to see within this special?