'Downton Abbey' Returns for Its Fifth Season: What To Expect

— -- It already aired in the U.K. but season five of "Downton Abbey" returns tonight in the U.S. on PBS.

If you've managed to avoid spoiler alerts from across the pond, get ready for a treat: There's plenty of drama in store from Lady Edith and her secret baby daughter, as well as Lady Mary's continued quest for both her next husband, and a way to bring some money to the financially-troubled estate.

Fans will also see some rare sentimentality from the normally sharp-tongued Violet, the Dowager Countess, played by Maggie Smith. The Crawleys' beloved dog Isis will figure prominently, and there are still questions about Bates' complicity in the death of Green, the man who raped his wife Anna.

Elizabeth McGovern, who plays Cora Crawley Countess of Grantham on the show, told ABC News that fans can "expect more drama" and "more laughs" this season.

The new season is "kind of going back to the way the show was when it first started when it was really about all the characters in the house and the maturation of their lives as they intertwined with one another," she said, adding that fans have been supportive in spite of shocking plot twists that left many upset. "The thing that I've experienced, which I have never experienced before, is that once an audience embraces something they're ready to forgive it so much. They just want it to be part of their life.

"[I]t's almost like a friend or someone in the family...," McGovern continued. "You might get angry with it, you might criticize it, but you know...it's yours. I've never been in a project that that's happened to in quite that way. It's an interesting experience and it's such a gift."

As for Isis, the dog, McGovern acknowledges she did hear the rumor earlier this year that the show was killing off the Crawley family pet because she shares her name with the commonly used name for the Islamic State extremist group.

McGovern said she can't comment on the rumor but does suggest that fans "watch the dog closely."