Cast and crew are currently working on the third series of the hit drama, set to air on ITV towards the end of this year
Dame Maggie Smith and Dan Stevens have thrown Downton Abbey bosses into panic amid fears they are set to quit the show.
Cast and crew are currently working on the third series of the hit drama, set to air on ITV towards the end of this year. But bosses are already looking ahead and key cast members including Hugh Bonneville, who plays the Earl of Grantham, and Michelle Dockery, loved by millions as Lady Mary, have reportedly been persuaded to sign up for series four and five.
The Sunday night drama has millions of devoted fans and they will be deeply concerned by reports that several performers, including 29-year-old Dan Stevens who shot to fame as Matthew Crawley, have not yet signed up. Dame Maggie Smith, 77, who plays the elderly Dowager Countess of Downton, is also considering her future.
Siobhan Finneran who stars as housekeeper Miss O’Brien and Jessica Brown Findlay, who brings Lady Sybil Crawley to life, are also dithering over whether to put pen to paper, according to respected industry website TV Line.
The loss of such a significant selection of the original main characters could be a body blow for the show, which was attracting audiences in excess of 10 million viewers during its last series.
Dame Maggie’s agent yesterday confirmed that the Oscar-winning screen legend had yet to sign up or even enter negotiations for series four, but declined to comment further on her future on Downton.
Read further: http://www.mirror.co.uk/3am/tv-film-news/downton-abbey-stars-maggie-smith-752580
Certainly, Dame Maggie Smith would be a huge loss, as would Jessica Brown Findlay. The other 2 would be missed, but proper replacements would be readily accepted, in my opinion.
ReplyDeleteI don't know - I was looking forward to Jessica becoming a flapper in the Roaring Twenties. And Dan Stevens is kind of the pin that holds the story together. It will be interesting to see if interest in the romance for him and Lady Mary dies out after they marry.
ReplyDeleteI disagree that it is just replacing Dan Stevens with a good replacement. And that also applies Maggie Smith. You can only see those Facebook pages created with many of the actors in this series so is Maggie Smith at the top and with Dan Stevens a close second .. none of the other actors is close to these numbers.
ReplyDeleteThen all these You Tube clips that that have been created about Mary and Matthew there are lots of them and what I can interpretation of from this is that these two (Michelle Dockery and Dan Stevens) is very, very popular and just replace one of them is probably not so successful.
And so as a viewer if this would happen if there would be more seasons other than those three and not one of those two names would be involved, I prefer that this series ends while it is at the top than to lose viewers in the long run because I think they shoot themselves in the foot if they are replacing them for others. This is my opinion.
I think there is a good deal more life to the show yet - the dynamics would be strange if any of them left now though. I would like to see a new little baby lord Crawley and Maggie Smith and Shirley Maclaine tossing barbs back and forth can't be missed.
ReplyDeleteYes, I agree that there is more life and history left to keep the series alive for a while.
ReplyDeleteBut not without these two names Dan and Maggie. And it applies also to Jessica Brown Findlay who plays the role of Sybil and her husband Tom (Allen Leech) that I would like to include in any future seasons for both of these young talented actors are wonderful.
For their relationship is really a contrast to life at the Downtown as it has been like in the past and it's nice to see. Shall be wonderful to see when the former chauffeur Tom eats breakfast with Lady Violet (Maggie) in season 3 if we get to see that ..
And I also want to see that Mary and Matthew to have children in this series and the grandmother Violet to experience and see this. But however I would not see any of those actors who appear today will be replaced just because a series should be able to live on. We have seen that before, and also we have seen how this has failed in the past when they are trying to this...