What Year Is ‘Downton Abbey’ Based In? Here’s How Real History Shaped the Crawleys’ Story

One of the best historical drama shows on modern TV, Downton Abbey was what captivated millions of viewers for five years straight, even though the series’ storyline goes much further than that.

Eventually reaching the year of 1928 in the spinoff movies, Downton Abbey has its first season set in April 1912 when Titanic collapses in The Atlantic, killing two potential heirs of the Crawley estate.

This leaves the family in a stranded position since only male members could inherit the mansion, which isn’t the case of Robert Crawley’s three daughters.

However, even after six seasons full of drama and conspiracies, Downton Abbey’s fate isn’t decided — and it’s yet to be revealed in the upcoming final spinoff film.

Who Inherits Downton Abbey After All?

Even though things are yet to be decided about it, the show made it clear that Mary’s young son George is now the only possible heir to the Crawley estate.

Since Robert had no sons, it was only possible for him to pass on the mansion to one of his three cousins, two of whom died in the Titanic crash.

The one that was left back then was Matthew Crawley who would later marry Robert’s eldest daughter Mary and become his son-in-law.

Before Matthew died as well, he and Mary had a son named George, and though Matthew made sure that Mary would become the estate heiress in case he died, it’s still George who will eventually take on the title of Earl and become the legitimate heir of Downton Abbey.

Paul Giamatti’s Character Will Be Back in ‘Downton Abbey’ Movie For “Something Quite Important”

The third film in the Downton Abbey franchise will become the most definite closure of the entire story and will seal the deal with all the inheritance issue, also bringing back Paul Giamatti’s Harold Levinson for that too.

While the movie is yet to arrive in theatres in September, the actor teased his return as Cora Crawley’s brother after starring in just one episode in season 4, this time suggesting that Harold will have a major role in Downton Abbey’s final fate.

“I do something quite important in this [movie]. I was like, wow, this is random, I have a lot to do with the end of this whole series. I do something of real significance — good or bad, I'm not going to say! But, I do something that makes a big difference to how everything ends”, Giamatti revealed in an interview with Entertainment Weekly back in March.

Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale is set to be released in theatres worldwide on September 12.