Anybody who viewed the "Downton Abbey" Christmas special and isn't familiar with the typical pace of the hit U.K. television series may have taken the show's overall holiday episode as somewhat slow.

However, while the episode did lack its usual action, it did set the show up for the brand new season in more ways than one.

According to the Guardian, the British-American drama is on the cusp of "entering a tricky phrase." While the inheritance of the Abbey was the main storyline that moved its first two seasons forward, the series must now evolve with the creative legs needed to sustain itself.

The spoiler for fans is that the Christmas spectacular, which only aired in the U.K., didn't exactly move at the most rapid of pace's but did feature one of its biggest and saddest moments to date with the death of Matthew Crawley (Dan Stevens) via car accident.

Many of the show's fans had been speculating whether the respective part would be re-casted to fill the shoes of Stevens' Matthew character. Although it's now confirmed, creator Julian Fellowes had previously tipped off fans when he stating the following to the U.K.'s Telegraph:

"I don't think it's ever going to be right to recast a different actor for the same character in Downton. You can do it with something like Sherlock Holmes and Watson, as they are very established and iconic, and many people have played them, so you have a kind of freedom."

"Downton Abbey" has continued on in dominant fashion, pulling in an average of 10 million viewers for each of its U.K. episodes. To top it off, it received 16 nominations at the Emmy Awards this year and its rights have sold in over 100 countries.

Season three of the program will premiere in the U.S. on the PBS network on Jan. 6.

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Downton abbey, Television