‘Downton Abbey’ season 4 Christmas Special spoilers: Paul Giamatti says…

The “Downton Abbey” Christmas Special will be airing on ITV in just under a week now, and while there is quite a bit worth getting excited over, one of the more noteworthy additions this year is the appearance of Harold, Cora’s brother and the son of Martha played by Paul Giamatti. We’ve heard about him a few times before … but always in the words of other people as a businessman who has got himself involved in some bad dealings, and also has a habit for getting into relations with the ladies.

But what Giamatti found appealing somewhat for him was that there was a chance for all of those things said about Harold already to be true, but for him to still dive in there and create some new wrinkles and dimensions with the character. Just take a look at what he had to say all about it in an interview with the Telegraph:

“I thought it was kind of interesting the way the character was written. He’s awkward and not terribly comfortable in these social situations. He’s more comfortable in business. He obviously [sleeps] around a lot on yachts and stuff like that, but it’s not his primary interest.”

As for what he is specifically doing in England at the time in which the Christmas Special takes place (which is many months beyond all of the other events in season 4), he adds what he can without giving away much when it comes to spoilers:

“I’m this immensely wealthy businessman, who had some sort of involvement in the crooked deals that were part of this thing called the Teapot Dome scandal during the President Harding administration. Harold has come to London to lay low.”

Harding was not one of America’s finer Presidents, and as someone who loves this period of time in history, we’ll be very curious to see just how much information is shared on the subject.

What do you want to see from Giamatti’s character, and are you as thrilled as we are that he has signed on? Sound off below.