‘Downton Abbey’ season 4: ‘Star Wars’ director on surprising set visit

As we wrote about recently, the “Downton Abbey” set (or at least the part where the servants film their scenes away from Highclere Castle) had a rather stunning visitor in “Lost” and “Star Trek Into Darkness” guru J.J. Abrams. Despite being one of the busiest men in show business these days (and promoting his new film all around the world), his love for the series led to him developing an interest in stopping by and seeing what some of the actors had to say about being on “DOwnton Abbey”.

So what was this experience ultimately like for Abrams? Speaking to BBC News while at the “Star Trek Into Darkness” premiere in London, Abrams said that it was a “giddy thrill” for him to meet some of the cast and crew hard at work on the show. The series is currently producing new episodes for season 4, which premieres in the fall, but they surely did not mind having such a high-profile guest on set. As a matter of fact, we’re sure that some of the actors probably tried their best to impress Abrams, given that he was recently given the reigns to the future of the “Star Wars” franchise (another passion project for him).

While there is no firm premiere date just yet for “Downton Abbey” season 4 in England, you can probably expect it to be back around September. Meanwhile, the show will return to PBS yet again four months later, in January 2014. This means that unless you are Abrams and can visit the set early, you are probably going to be waiting for a while.

What do you think: Is it Abrams or the “Downton Abbey” cast that are the lucky ones here? If you want to check out some more scoop on the upcoming season via Sophie McShera (Daisy), be sure to head on over to the link here.

Photo: ITV