‘Downton Abbey’ season 4 spoilers: Maggie Smith’s voice echoes in first teaser video

“You have a straightforward choice before you. You must choose either death, or life.”

These are the words that highlight what is the very first teaser for “Downton Abbey” season 4, and they are said amidst a pale background with the show’s title sprawled across the front of it. There is literally nothing here from a visual point of view, so if we are going to play detective with these ten seconds carefully chosen by ITV, we have to ask ourselves some interesting questions. As for who the voice is, it’s the pretty recognizable Dowager Countess, played of course by Emmy winner and British national treasure Maggie Smith.

But what is she specifically talking about with this quote? This is where some debate could come into play, but for us, we imagine that she is speaking with Mary (Michelle Dockery) about what she can do with her life moving forward after the death of Matthew. She can choose to sit around in mourning of her beloved husband’s death, but how far will that really get her? The simple answer is nowhere after months have passed. He’s not going to come back, and as the years go by in the 1920s, society is becoming more and more open and receptive to change. She must be, as well.

Maybe we are meant to take this comment as somewhat of a springboard, given some of what we know to be coming up this season. There are times when this could genuinely feel like a dating game for Mary, at least when you consider the men fighting for her heart. Lord Anthony Gillingham (Tom Cullen) is in the lead, but we don’t even know yet if she is going to let him in.

The real purpose of this teaser is to advertise the trailer that will be unveiled next weekend, during the launch of “The X Factor” UK. Hopefully, we will have so much more to share then.

Photo: ITV