Overview

• Season three premieres on HBO June 22 with a surprise opening in Arizona, spotlighting George Russell’s risky railroad expansion in the wild west.
• Back in New York, Bertha Russell arranges a negotiated marriage between her daughter Gladys and a cash-strapped British duke to solidify her family’s elite status.
• A freak accident and a harrowing act of violence shatter the series’ genteel facade, injecting unprecedented peril into the characters’ lives.
• Downstairs narratives gain prominence as Peggy Scott confronts social obstacles in her budding romance and footman Jack advances his patented alarm clock invention.
• Julian Fellowes deepens his portrayal of the era by integrating themes of divorce, class tension and compassionate reflections on homosexuality.