"Downton Abbey" creator Julian Fellowes talks Season 4
Warning: Spoilers about the "Downton Abbey" season finale ahead:
Stateside "Downton Abbey" fans knew what was coming in last night's season three finale, given the fact it aired in England months ago and the Internet exists. But that didn't stop us all from collectively shedding a tear when Matthew, feeling jubilation over the birth of his son, died in an episode-ending car accident.
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Turns out, had creator Julian Fellowes had his way, Matthew would have lived ... for one more episode.
"I had hoped that we would have one episode of this fourth season that I'm writing now, so we could have ended the Christmas episode on a happy note, and then kill him in the first episode of the next series. But he didn't want to do that," Fellowes tells The New York Times of star Dan Stevens' desire to leave the show. "I didn't want his death to dominate the Christmas special, so that's why we killed him at the very, very end. In a way, I think it works quite well because we begin Series 4 six months later. We don't have to do funerals and all that stuff. That's all in the past by then."
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So it shouldn't come as much of a surprise that next season will be all about Lady Mary finding herself again. "Mary has to rebuild her life in a society which is changing," Fellowes says. "We would see women's roles in the '20s as being very much behind women today. But it was a big advance on what it had been 30 years before. And that's all explored in the show."
As for season three's other big death, that of Lady Sybil, Fellowes says that it too was fueled by the actor's desire to leave the show and that unlike the actors who play servants, there's only one way to deal with a departing member of the Grantham family: death.
"When an actor playing a servant wants to leave, there isn't really a problem -- [that character gets] another job," he says. "With members of the family, once they're not prepared to come back for any episodes at all, then it means death. Because how believable would it be that Matthew never wanted to see the baby, never wanted to see his wife? And was never seen again at the estate that he was the heir to? So we didn't have any option, really. I was as sorry as everyone else."
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Fellowes also might be apologizing to fans in the near future as he might have to hand showrunner duties off to someone else as NBC has tapped him to write a new series, which he'll begin once writing on season four is finished. "If I'm doing a series at NBC, I would not be able to write all of 'Downton' and all of that series at the same time," he says, adding, "I'd prefer to do everything on my terms [but] the business of life is learning that you can't lay down the terms. If 'Downton' goes on -- of course that's not my decision -- then it would be with other writers. And one of the tricks is to recognize when it's time to come to an end. Some things go on for 20 years ... but I just don't see 'Downton' being one of them."
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Matthew
should be at death's door with extensive head injuries, suffer severe head trauma and amnesia.
While in hospital he gets better over a period of about 5-6 months, then one evening he walks away, undetected, unseen, unnoticed and just disappears into the darkness..
He remembers something and goes to the club that Rose frequented with her married boy friend.
There he is befriended by the black musician known as Jack Ross, who has no idea of his identity.
But there are a few men interested in Mary, hoping to become her suitors...waiting around to catch her off guard.
BUT......
Jack Ross is the secret love of Lady Rose MacClare.
Rose needs to keep this a secret because of her age and her family.
She recognizes Matthew, but he does not know her.
Meanwhile Tom Branson, Thomas Barrow, Mr. Bates, Carson, James and Alfred are all looking for Matthew.
They find one clue after another, but Rose is always one step ahead of them to keep Matthew in hiding, and to protect her secret.
She is nearly 20 and not old enough to make her own choices yet.
Eventually when caught, in her scheme to hide Matthew, she will run away to Canada with Jack Ross, who genuinely loves her and spoils her.
Matthew is finally found and brought home (one year after his accident) to celebrate Christmas at Downton, but he still does not know who he is.
It would be super if the heroes in finding Matthew , were Thomas Barrow, Mr. Bates, Mosley, James Kent, Alfred Nugent, and Mr. Carson, all working in secret so as not to raise false hopes for the family.
Bates and Carson should be comrades in charge of the search.
This is where Thomas will show his true knack for detective work.
It's time he became the unlikely hero of the plot, so that he can realize the others do appreciate something he does.
As a reward, he will become Matthew's Valet, and personal body guard, until Matthew regains his memory.
Series 5 should be completely about getting his memory back.
Should be found out to be an embezzler of the Downton fortune.
Lady Edith
should get experience as a journalist, and quit working for that married editor whose wife is in an institution.
She should go to a relative in Germany, to nurse a broken heart over another failed romance, and go to work as a first rate journalist for an aristocratic newspaper owner, marry him and have two children, a boy and a girl.
Then when the Nazis move in they could escape and go to Downton for refuge..
Lady Rosamund Painswick
should marry Sir Anthony Strallan and go to Egypt on a tour for honeymoon, they are hiding from Edith, afraid of her disapproval and disappointment.
Tom Branson
Has finally settled in at Downton and becomes Robert's right arm while Matthew is absent, he has NO love interest at this time, until the returning Lady Edith brings her German born husband's niece, (Helen?) into the fold. (How about we make her a red head?)
OR.......There is always the former maid called Gwen who became a secretary, if the actress or the character is available. We need a red haired girl in here somewhere. And I feel that Tom, Matthew and Robert need a good secretary to keep up with Downton's new economic structure.
Ethel Parks
Mr. Bryant dies or is killed and Ethel is allowed to move in with his widow to care for little Charlie. I would like to see Ethel and Mrs. Bryant become close.
Ethel as a good heart.
Daisy
Should marry Alfred Nugent, or James Kent, and move in with Mr. Mason, and have twins, Mr. Mason's children all died in infancy, as I recall.
She will inherit the farm so there'll be no need to look for a cottage.
Whether she marries James or Alfred, this will keep them both in Downton's future.
Alfred
Should become a cook under Mrs. Patmore, keeping himself in the story.
Anna and Bates
Anna and Mr. Bates should adopt an older homeless orphan child or two.
Thomas Barrow
becomes a very loyal friend to Bates, Anna, James and Mrs. Hughes.
He's being kinder to Alfred, also, even to the point of taste testing Alfred's creations in the kitchen.
He is feeling that O'Brien deceived him and took him in the wrong direction concerning all the staff at Downton, they aren't such a bad lot after all.
Also, He might possibly make a good butler for Isobel Crawley since Mosley has left.
Molesley
Should become Tom Branson's valet.
Heartbroken,.... but still a fan.
You can't keep killing characters off that leave the show. Sybil was bad enough, but still somehow believable. Matthew is another story. This show is not going to last forever. What is wrong with the network that they can't afford to hang on to key players for the duration?
Have him go through the 4th series in a state of amnesia, walking away from the hospital undetected and going to the last place he remembers, the scottish highlands.
Shrimpy has lost the castle, so it would be no surprise that the family could not find Matthew.
Then find him and bring him home for the Christmas special next year in episode 7, that will give them plenty of time to hire a new actor to fill the part.