‘Downton Abbey’ season 3 spoilers: What U.S. viewers can expect from premiere

American “Downton Abbey” fans have been waiting for an exceptionally long time, but on Sunday night the beloved series is going to be back on PBS to kick off season 3, which is an exciting handful of episodes that will carry the show to new places, including some that many fans would have never imagined back before the season began.

If you have somehow managed to be lucky enough to make it this far without being spoiled, the last thing we want to do is ruin things for you now. Instead, we want to try and give even more reasons to be excited … that is, if you were already not sitting at the edge of your seat.

1. The season premiere culminates in a big event, and dare we say it is one that fans have been looking forward to seeing since near the very beginning of the series.

2. Tom Branson is going to have an incredibly hard time fitting in at Downton Abbey almost immediately, and things are going to be worse for him instead of better. Expect to see quite a bit of Branson all season long.

3. Robert makes a serious faux pas when it comes to an investment, and it leaves him in a position where he starts to wonder just whether or not the Abbey can move forward without having to suddenly become Downton Cottage.

4. Shirley MacLaine will turn up here, but don’t expect her to have as major of a role as you would expect. It’s mostly just been pimped out to such an extent because it is Shirley MacLaine on “Downton Abbey” and nothing more.

In case you do want to completely spoil this episode for yourself, you can do so by reading our full review here. Meanwhile, you can slso check out some more comments via Dan Stevens about the new season at this link.

Photo: PBS