The Coming Ins and Outs at Downton Abbey Season Four

Downton Abbey's last season ended with some surprises farewells to much loved characters and life altering changes for the entire brood at the historic castle.

Jessica Brown Findlay

We said good bye to Lady Sybil shortly after she gave birth to her daughter. Jessica Brown Findley who played lady Sybil leaves the series to pursue other opportunities. We watched the Protestant family attend the baby's baptism in the Catholic Church, in respect to their late daughter's probable wishes. Sybil's husband, Tom, formerly the family's chauffeur, faced the challenge of his change in status as he moved from the downstairs servants group to becoming a member of the upstairs family unit.

Laura Carmichael

 

After being left at the altar, Lady Edith, the Crawley's middle daughter branches out from tradition to accept an offer to write for a newspaper and quickly finds herself in an affair with a married man. Then finally, Mary Crawley and husband Matthew welcome a son, but Matthew is killed in an auto accident. Dan Stevens who played Matthew leaves the series for new pastures.  It was a busy season full of changes both upstairs and downstairs at Downton Abbey.






Rob James-Collier

One of the surprises of season three is discovery that Thomas, played by Rob James-Collier, is gay. Julian Fellowes, academy award writer and creator of Downton Abbey, explains that the character has been designed to be gay from the beginning. Remembering that it was a crime to be gay before the 1960s, you may be able to understand that living under that pressure could make the character "snippy, ungenerous and untrusting". The issue made the reaction of the members of the household quite interesting.

Siobhan Finneran

Season Four finds Mrs. O'Brien, housemaid to Cora, Countess of Grantham, first lady of the manor,  leaving the series. Actress Siobhan Finneran told the Daily Mirror of London that she "was not doing any more" and described the character O'Brien as "a thoroughly despicable human being". O'Brien role was to make everyone around her totally miserable. Shirley MacLaine returns as Martha Levinson, outspoken mother of Cora, and thorn in the side of Violet, the Dowager Countess, played by Maggie Smith.

Tom Cullen

Other new actors have been announced for the coming season: Tom Cullen, Lord Gillingham, is an old family friend who has known Mary Crawley since childhood. Since Julian Fellowes tells us that the main theme of season four is rebuilding Mary Crawley's life in a changing world, I wonder if we'll miss Matthew for very long? Harriet Walters will play Lady Shackleton, "an old friend of the Dowager". Julian Ovenden joins the cast as Charles Blake, described only as "an aristocrat". Rumor has it that the first black character will be joining the cast.

Downton Abbey fans breathlessly await the coming season, mundanely passing each day until the show begins again. One thing we can be sure of, more changes are in store for the family, upstairs and downstairs.