Downton Abbey Series 4: Michelle Dockery says Matthew Crawley’s exit had to be brutal and writers knew Dan Stevens was leaving BEFORE the third series!
In the run up to the new series of Downton Abbey, one of its main stars, Michelle Dockery, has been discussing the exit of her on-screen husband, as well as revealing some gossip from series 4.
Dockery’s character, Lady Mary Crawley, was left widowed during last year’s Christmas Day episode of the award-winning ITV period drama, when her on-screen husband, Matthew (Dan Stevens) was killed in a car accident moments after meeting their first born son and heir.
The tragedy left a bitter taste in the mouths of fans who had only just come to terms with the death of Mary’s sister, Sybil (Jessica Findlay-Brown) a few weeks before, again, just after meeting her first born child.
Writers and producers insisted that the decision to kill off Matthew was out of their hands due to the nature of his place in the family and estate, which lead us all to assume that Stevens had sprung his departure on them between series’.
However, as Dockery has revealed to TVLine, Stevens actually announced his decision to leave at the beginning of series 3, which does beg the question if he had to be killed then surely they could have just kept Sybil alive and off-screen in Ireland where she had been with her husband Tom Branson (Allen Leech) before returning to Downton mid-series.
Discussing Matthew’s death with the publication Dockery explained:
“We had all signed for three years on the show. So when it came to the point of them deciding to take the show further, we all had a choice. Yeah, initially, I was sad to hear that he was leaving.
“But looking back, in hindsight, what it’s done is opened up an opportunity for the writing to really shift and for [creator] Julian [Fellowes] to write such a great storyline for [Season] 4 – and not just for Mary. Matthew’s death affects so many other characters. We miss him. I spent three years with Dan, carrying that Matthew-and-Mary storyline. I really loved working with him. So he is missed.”
With regards to Steven’s decision to leave, she continued:
“We knew before we started the third [season]. We knew very far in advance. We also knew that it would be very finite because, of course, Matthew being the heir to Downton Abbey, there was no other storyline really to write other than that he had to die some way.
“Even if he left or disappeared or decided that it wasn’t working with him and Mary, it wouldn’t have really worked because, of course, he would still have that tie with Downton. So it had to be that brutal.”
On the final scene itself, she went on:
“I was watching it with my family. I knew it was coming, and I hadn’t told them. They knew that Dan was leaving. It had got out that he was going. But they were really shocked. And so was I. The way it was filmed, it all happened so quickly. It really shocked people and wasn’t what they were expecting on Christmas Day.”
However, as we have previously reported Mary is set to get a new love interest when the show returns, six months after Matthew’s death, of which Dockery commented:
“Gillingham is an old family friend. The sisters knew him when we were growing up, and we haven’t seen him since then. A party is organized at the house, and he is invited to it.
“He’s just a different character. And there’s other potential suitors, as well. It’s not just him. There’s a character called Blake, played by Julian Ovenden. And Evelyn Napier (played by Brendan Patricks) comes back, as well. He was the one who brought the Turkish diplomat along. That was lovely to play scenes with Brendan again because we haven’t seen him since Season 1. They’re very different.
“And this year, we have a few new characters coming in. [Mary's] beginning to come back to real life again because it takes her a long, long time to even interact with anyone.
“There’s a real energy about [Season] 4. It’s very much the ’20s. It’s very much the bright, young things. Rose, the cousin, and Edith very much represent this new wave of fashion, of dining in restaurants with a man, without being accompanied. There’s a real shift in the periods, more so than [Season] 3.
“I thought [Season] 3 was very much the ’20s, but it’s moved even further on. It feels closer to where we are today. It’s a bit more modern. That’s what will be appealing about [Season] 4. There’s a sense of change, again.”
Downton Abbey returns this autumn on ITV1 – Watch a behind the scenes feature in the clip below:
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