Barbarians at High Tea

How Downton Abbey wrestles with the modern age-movie stars and all.

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Clockwise from top left: Laura Carmichael, Elizabeth McGovern, Tuppence Middleton, Imelda Staunton, and Nathalie Baye in Downton Abbey: A New Era

The Crawleys won't go down without a fight. The family at the center of Downton Abbey: A New Era, in theaters May 20, still finds plenty of conflict in cozy troubles, which made the Julian Fellowes-created series about them (and the 2019 movie it spawned) a hit, but the real battle depicted in the new film is the one eternally brewing between tradition and modernity.

It's a great clashing of two worlds, says costume designer Anna Robbins. As the film follows the ebbing clout of England's peers, it also explores the ascent of new kinds of influence, from celebrity culture to the international jetset a tug-of-war at play in broad strokes as well as carefully placed details.