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Another "Downton" departure

You may hate her, you may love her, or most likely you love to hate her, but that doesn't mean you want to see her go.

In another shocking departure for the beloved British hit show "Downton Abbey," Siobhan Finneran, who played the scheming and oft-evil maid Sarah O'Brien, has confirmed that she will not be back for the upcoming fourth season.

"I'm not doing any more," Finneran told HuffPo U.K.. "O'Brien is a thoroughly despicable human being -- that was great to play."

While there's no word on how creator Julian Fellowes will choose to write her off the series, we can only hope it will be in a less shocking manner than the Lady Sybil's (Jessica Brown Findlay) tear-jerking childbirth death, and the recent season-ending bloody car crash of the much-loved Matthew Crawley (Dan Stevens).

And chances are, O'Brien will have just moved on...or have been kicked out in deliciously scandalous shame (here's hoping). For as Fellowes told The New York Times, when it comes to the servants of the manor, there's no need for a tragic end.

"When an actor playing a servant wants to leave, there isn't really a problem -- [that character gets] another job," he said. "With members of the family, once they're not prepared to come back for any episodes at all, then it means death."

And with such a popular show, it's not an easy decision for an actor to leave either.

"We were always optioned for three years...And when that came up it was a very difficult decision," Stevens told E! about his choice to leave.

Which is a good thing, as it's unlikely that fans still reeling from Crawley's demise could handle another Downton family member passing. So with the fourth season of the PBS show currently being filmed, we can only hope that Finneran will be the last "Downton Abbey" farewell for a while.

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