PREVIEW: DOWNTON ABBEY Season 3 Continues On PBS

The third season of DOWNTON ABBEY continues its PBS run on Sunday, January 13 at 9 p.m. ET/PT.

In the episode, the fate of Downton Abbey hinges on a letter from a dead man, while Edith and Sir Anthony face their own fateful moment.

Meanwhile, Mrs. Hughes confronts a crisis.

Watch a sneak peek below:

PREVIEW: DOWNTON ABBEY Season 3

The third season of DOWNTON ABBEY premieres Sunday, January 6, on PBS at 9 p.m. ET/PT. Wedding guests descend on Downton Abbey, where disasters large and small threaten. One is Cora's freewheeling American mother, who tries to loosen up her in-laws.

Shirley MacLaine joins the much-loved cast of Downton Abbey, which includes Maggie Smith, Elizabeth McGovern, Hugh Bonneville, Dan Stevens, Michelle Dockery, Jim Carter, Penelope Wilton, and a host of others.

Watch the Season 3 trailer below:

WATCH: Shirley MacLaine On DOWNTON ABBEY Sneak Peek

TV Land debuted a clip last night of Oscar winner Shirley MacLaine, who will play Lady Cora’s feisty mother Martha, landing the first blow in a war of words with her daughter’s delightfully acerbic mother-in-law, Maggie Smith’s Dowager Countess.

The clip aired as part of the American Film Institute’s 40th Life Achievement Award ceremony honoring MacLaine. Watch it below:

Shirley Maclaine's DOWNTON ABBEY Character Revealed

Shirley Maclaine is set to appear on Season 3 of DOWNTON ABBEY, and TV Guide's William Keck has new details:

Academy Award winner Shirley MacLaine is embracing the small screen, joining PBS' Downton Abbey in Season 3, which premieres early next year. Shirley appears in the first two episodes as Martha Levinson, mother of Lady Cora (Elizabeth McGovern). "I sort of had to make her personality up," Shirley says. "She is from Long Island and finally lands at Downton Abbey and sees what's happening to the place when everyone's coming back from the war." What makes Martha interesting, she adds, is "her reactions to tradition and the class system. I do my best to be kind to tradition, but frankly think it should shift."

Maclaine said visiting the DOWNTON set was like "stepping back in time. The whole place seemed haunted and full of otherworldly spirits."