George Clooney is heading to Crawley estate! ITV released the first short clip (it's only 8-seconds long) of Clooney playing a still-unidentified character on "Downton Abbey."
It was previously announced that the newly married star would make a guest appearance for a holiday charity spin-off episode, titled "Text Santa." The episode is to help raise money for six UK charities, E! Online reports.
Details about Clooney's "Downton" character have been kept under wraps, but it's rumored that he'll play a wedding guest at the estate, according to The Guardian. In the clip, the "Gravity" actor is seen looking quite handsome in a grey, three-piece suit. Lady Cora (Elizabeth McGovern) walks up behind Clooney and calls him "dearest."
Fans will have to tune in to see what happens, but E! reported that Clooney plants a kiss on Maggie Smith (the Countess of Grantham) and she faints.
"George plants a kiss and Maggie ends up on the floor, it's wonderful. He was hilarious," Laura Carmichael (Lady Edith) said.
She later added to "This Morning": "It's amazing and we didn't even know if it would actually happen until he turned up. We were filming away and then heard 'he's here, he's here, he's arrived'... But he was wonderful and so brilliant and I'm very excited for everyone to see it."
Clooney is reportedly a huge fan of the British show and is close friends with Hugh Bonneville (Lord Robert Crawley), according to the Guardian. They both starred on "Monuments Men" together.
"All the plans have been shrouded in secrecy because George was determined for his role not to leak out," a source told The Guardian. "All the other cast members and crew were also sworn to secrecy. It's amazing it's taken four months for someone to find out. This is the biggest moment in Downton history and shows it's now the biggest drama in the world."
The "Downton Abbey" charity Christmas special airs on ITV on Dec. 19, and the fifth season returns Jan. 4 in the U.S. on PBS.
