Seven years ago, the television series "Downton Abbey" finished its sixth season of upstairs-downstairs melodrama. Three years ago, the miraculous happened: A movie sequel arrived, starring and created by all of the show's key cast and crew — and it was great! The exquisite drama series, created by Julian Fellowes, cannot be stopped.

Now, the latest film continuation, DOWNTON ABBEY: A NEW ERA, offers new delights for fans of the show's richly detailed storytelling. Before A NEW ERA arrives in theaters, on May 20, we wanted to take a look back at the state of the estate. It's a good time to remember where the characters were and see where they may be going, leading up to the new DOWNTON ABBEY movie.

The video above is honestly the best recent recap we could offer. The core of the first DOWNTON ABBEY movie featured a visit to the Abbey from King George V (Simon Jones) and Queen Mary (Geraldine James) in 1927. That main event brought with it stressors that revealed cracks in some relationships, brought long-suppressed family issues to light, and gave the Abbey's staff a chance to prove themselves.

New to the Abbey? Or maybe it's been a while since you visited. Here's who's who:

Upstairs, we'll find the Crawley family. Robert Crawley (Hugh Bonneville) and his wife Cora (Elizabeth McGovern) have long presided over the grounds as Lord and Lady of Grantham, but following the first DOWNTON ABBEY movie, their daughter Lady Mary Talbot (Michelle Dockery) is quickly becoming the new Lady of the house. That's because Violet (Maggie Smith), the mother of Robert Crawley and the Dowager Countess of Grantham, has long been the family matriarch, but in the DOWNTON ABBEY movie she reveals to Mary that she may not have long to live.

Meanwhile, Mary’s sister Edith (Laura Carmichael), married to Bertie Pelham (Harry Hadden-Paton) at the end of the TV series, finished out the first movie content that Bertie would be able to stick around for the birth of their second child.

And while the staff of the Abbey — led by Thomas Barrow (Robert James-Collier) and Elsie Hughes (Phyllis Logan) spent the first movie fending off an aggressive push by the King's own servant staff to take control of the property for the duration of the royal visit. While this was aided by the slightly controversial un-retirement of Charles Carson (Jim Carter), in the end things worked out just fine.

In addition to the many familiar faces who reprise their roles from the previous movie and the TV series before it, DOWNTON ABBEY: A NEW ERA features several new characters. Hugh Dancy and Dominic West play the director and star of a movie that plans to film at the Abbey, while Laura Haddock, Nathalie Baye, and Jonathan Zaccaï also play new roles.

Thankfully, Violet, the Dowager Countess of Grantham, is still with us! And she has inherited a property in the South of France? Whaaaat? A visit to this mysterious and enticing property is obviously in order. But what long-hidden secrets of Violet's past will come to light as a result of the journey?

Meanwhile, it is now the 1930s, and a new sort of royalty comes to visit Downton Abbey. As mentioned above, a film director his crew, and the stars of a movie that will be filmed on location at the Abbey. If a brief pop-in by the King and Queen of England wasn't enough to shake the staff to the core, this beguiling and potentially troublesome set of new visitors might just do the trick.

DOWNTON ABBEY: A NEW ERA opens on May 20.

All images courtesy of Focus Features.