Paul Giamatti is the newest cast member of PBS juggernaut Downton Abbey. He joins the British period drama as the American brother of Cora Crawley (Elizabeth McGovern). The order at Lord Grantham's was already turned on its head last season by Cora's outspoken and wealthy mother, played by Shirley McLaine.
Harold Levinson, Cora's brother, will be a "maverick playboy" whom we're sure the Dowager Countess (Maggie Smith) won't appreciate at all. Giamatti won an Emmy and a Golden Globe last year for playing John Adams in the miniseries of the same name, so he's no stranger to the genre.
Season four is getting a slew of new characters, including an old (hopefully sassy) friend of the Dowager Countess' (played by Dame Harriet Walters), a new love interest for Mary, played by Tom Cullen, to replace the (SPOILER) dearly departed Matthew Crawley, and Nigel Harman as a visiting valet.
Don't get too excited, though—the Brits continue to torture us by airing Downton Abbey stateside months after the U.K. air date. Season 4 premieres on PBS January 5, 2014.
