The Final Season of “Downton Abbey” Begins January 3 2016

The upcoming seventh season of Downton Abbey will be the final for the  British drama.

Downton Abbey will open on PBS on Sunday, January 3, leading to its conclusion in March. PBS will use Downton Abbey as the lead-in to new Civil War drama Mercy Street, which launches on January 17.

The six-part Mercy Street tells the story of the Civil War from the vantage point of doctors and volunteer nurses, and it stars Mary Elizabeth Winstead (The Returned), Hannah James, Josh Radnor (How I Met Your Mother), Gary Cole, Norbert Leo Butz (Bloodline), McKinley Belcher III (Show Me a Hero), Jack Falahee (How To Get Away With Murder) and AnnaSophia Robb (The Carrie Diaries).

On the Sunday before the final episode of Downton Abbey, PBS will air a marathon of the season up to that point and a behind-the-scenes program on how the show was made.