Downton Abbey’s finale leaves hope for fans
The sun may be setting on Downton Abbey, but a glimmer of hope remains for bereft fans of the period drama, after its executive producer said the final season would leave open the possibility of revisiting characters in the future.
The sixth and final season has begun airing in Britain. North American viewers will have to wait for January 2016 for the season to air on PBS. Readers may find spoilers below.
Gareth Neame, who plans the scripts and storylines with Julian Fellowes, Downton’s creator, said he wanted to leave viewers “satisfied” but hinted there might be more in the future.
Ten million viewers in Britain and millions more elsewhere have watched each of the five seasons so far and the cast and crew have been shooting the final season since February.
When asked whether the final episode signalled an absolute end, Neame said: “We want to answer all the questions that people are asking: Will Edith get a break? Are Bates and Anna going to get any good news? Is Mary, with all the ups and downs that she has had over the past 12 years of the story, going to see light at the end of the tunnel and settle down?
“I don’t know that they are all necessarily going to be OK because, don’t forget, we’ve always said that this show is about the end of a way of life, the end of an era.”
But he said: “They are not all going to be wiped out by a meteorite. At the end, as we leave them to their own lives, yes, the door will be left open to come back to the majority of them in the future.”
The new season opens in 1925 and the script and fates of the main characters have been kept under wraps. Producer Chris Croucher did say he “cried his eyes out” when he watched a version of the Christmas finale.
He said: “That’s what’s brilliant about Downton — in one episode you can laugh, cry and experience absolute joy. Everyone loves period dramas. But quite often, with something like Pride and Prejudice, you know how it ends.”