Entertainment

Paul Giamatti joins ‘Downton Abbey’ cast

Paul Giamatti, the scene-stealing character actor who scored a personal best when he won a slew of awards — including an Emmy and a Golden Globe, for his portrayal of John Adams in the 2008 HBO miniseries — is coming to TV’s most highbrow soap — “Downton Abbey.”

The Brooklyn-based actor will join the cast as Harold, the maverick brother of Elizabeth McGovern’s Lady Cora Grantham. He will appear in the Season 4 finale alongside Shirley MacLaine, who joined “Downton” last season as McGovern’s mother, Martha Levinson.

Series executive producer Gareth Neame describes Giamatti’s character as “free-spirited,” one destined to upset the state of affairs at the tradition-bound Yorkshire manor house.

The British costume drama has become an international hit, breaking records to become PBS’s all-time highest rated drama. The series has also won many awards, including several Emmys. The cast has been blindsided by all the acclaim but at least two of the actors — Jessica Brown Findlay, who played Lady Sybil, and Dan Stevens, who played Matthew Crawley — left the show as soon as offers from the film world started rolling in. As a result, creator Julian Fellowes has had to regroup, adding more characters as the story line advances into the 1920s and Lady Mary Crawley (Michelle Dockery) copes with widowhood. Among those joining the series are Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, Joanna David and Gary Carr, who will play the series’ first black character, a jazz singer named Jack Ross.

“Downton Abbey” returns for an eight-week run Jan. 5.