Michelle Dockery Bids Farewell to ‘Downton Abbey’: “It Feels Like it’s Come to its Natural Ending”

“It is bittersweet,” Michelle Dockery says. “This is really the definitive ending.”

After 15 years, Dockery is bidding her final farewell to Downton Abbey—Julian Fellowes’ beloved British period drama. Dockery has played Lady Mary, the eldest daughter of Hugh Bonneville’s Earl of Grantham, for 52 episodes of television across six seasons, and now three movies.

Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale, the third film and the official end of the franchise, brings us back to the aristocratic Crawley family, as well as the servants who maintain their lifestyle at their breathtaking country estate in Yorkshire.

“I feel really grateful for being part of something so loved by so many people,” says Dockery during a Zoom call on Tuesday afternoon from London. “It’s quite rare in an actor’s career to keep going back to the same job for 15 years, and have the familiarity of being back together with the cast every couple of years. It’s certainly emotional to say goodbye to that.”

The movie, out in theaters September 12, begins with Lady Mary at the center of a scandal as the household enters the 1930s. A shocking public announcement reveals that Mary has divorced her second husband, Henry Talbot (Matthew Goode)—an act that would typically condemn an aristocratic woman to shame and exile. In an instant, Mary has gone from belle of the ball to outcast. “As a modern woman, I couldn’t believe the attitudes that people had towards divorced women at that time,” Dockery says. “It’s baffling how women were ostracized by society and thrown out of social events the way Mary is—particularly for someone like her, in the position that she was in. This was something we really took seriously when we were filming this.”

As Mary is banished from society, her servants prepare for a changing of the guard. Footman Andy (Michael Fox) takes over from Carson (Jim Carter) as butler, and Mrs. Patmore (Lesley Nicol) hands over the kitchen to Daisy (Sophie McShera). Even Mary starts to move into her role as head of the Abbey, though she is more vulnerable than viewers have ever seen before. When we revisit her in Grande Finale, she still resists sentimentality—but deep down, “You see the chinks in her armor when she’s around Anna [Mary’s loyal lady’s maid] or Carson,” Dockery says. “You see that when she’s with someone who she can be vulnerable with. Then the next minute, she’s absolutely stoic and can come across as cold. I like that she’s this real sand box of emotions. She carries on through the ups and downs, and she just keeps going.”

Though she may be feeling down, her ladyship continues to push against social norms and break the rules she was born into. “This film particularly starts to shift that narrative of those rules, and Mary is at the helm of that,” Dockery says. There’s a poignant moment in the film when she invites former footman Thomas Barrow (Robert James-Collier) to have a drink with the family during a party. “It’s lovely to see that in this film,” Dockery says. “We’ve been talking about those changes for a while. And even though the last film was called A New Era, I feel like this film is the new era—we’re actually in it now.”

Dockery understood Lady Mary from her first audition for the part in 2010. “It was one of those roles that came along and I just thought, I know how to do this. I know who she is. I just played the best version of her that came naturally to me,” she says. “And I felt good leaving the audition. But there were other actresses who were much more established than I was at the time that were up for the role, so there was a little doubt.” She won’t name the other actors vying for the part, but Dockery, of course, ultimately landed the role. “It felt life-changing at that moment. It was a big step in my career.”

When Downton premiered, Dockery had primarily performed onstage around England and in several BBC productions, including the 2009 BBC adaptation of Henry James’s The Turn of the Screw. Her costar in that project was Dan Stevens, who eventually played Downton’s Matthew Crawley—Mary’s first husband, who died in a car accident after their son was born. Coincidentally, after her Downton audition, Dockery remembers walking out and seeing Stevens in the waiting area. “We said hi,” she recalls, “and I said, Are you reading for Matthew? And he said, ‘Yeah. And he was like, Mary?’ And I was like, yeah. We sort of looked at each other and I remember thinking, Yeah, that could work!”

The two became one of the most beloved—and tragic—couples of the Peak TV era. Dockery never imagined that the show would take off the way it did. Season one premiered in the U.K. in September 2010, and in the U.S. in January 2011. It went on to become the most popular PBS series of all time and a cultural juggernaut. The first season earned 11 Emmy nominations and won six awards, including outstanding limited or anthology series.

Dockery herself received three consecutive Emmy nods for best lead actress in a drama series, and she picked up several SAG Awards. “There was such a circus around it all when we were promoting it and being at various awards shows—but every time we went back to film the series, it didn’t feel any different,” she says. “That never changed.”

She still remembers the words of wisdom Bonneville shared with her and Laura Carmichael, who plays Mary’s sister Edith, after the first season aired. “He said, ‘Relish this, ‘cause it doesn’t happen. It rarely happens more than once,being a part of something so huge like this,’” she recalls. “It really stayed with me, and I haven’t taken any of it for granted.” Dockery has taught her costars as well: “From the minute we started working together I had one thought: I will learn from this one,” says Elizabeth McGovern, who plays Downton’s demure and loving Countess of Grantham.” I watch her like a hawk. She’s rare. She has the radiance, charisma, and talent of a superstar, but she’s a team player. She loves other people’s work, even though she’s best at pretty much everything.”

In between trips to Downton, Dockery has made numerous TV series: the western Godless, the murder mystery Defending Jacob, the courtroom drama Anatomy of a Scandal, and the seductive thriller Good Behavior. She also worked with director Guy Ritchie in the movie The Gentlemen and returned to the stage in 2017 to star in the National Theatre’s production of Network, opposite Bryan Cranston. “It did create a big shift for me. There were job possibilities before, but nothing had opened the door the way that Downton did,” she says. “It definitely opened up a lot of opportunities.”

Joanne Froggatt, who plays Anna, admires Dockery’s range. “As an actor, Michelle has fantastic taste, which makes all the difference. She chooses projects with real substance—stories backed by brilliant talent both on screen and behind the scenes,” Froggatt says. “She’s never afraid to take on roles that push her in new directions, and in doing so she shows just how versatile and compelling she is as a performer.”

As Dockery, 43, closes the Downton Abbey chapter of her life, her onscreen character will remain close to her. “I grew up with her. I was 26 when I started playing her; between then and now, we have grown into women,” she says. “I take her with me sometimes in other roles because there’s this brilliant complexity and stoicism, and she’s such a rich character. Any other character I play, I’m always looking for those nuances.”

But stoicism is only one aspect of Dockery’s own personality. “I sometimes wish Lady Mary fans could see Michelle between takes,” McGovern says. “After a frosty, tragic scene, she becomes a clown, doing imitations with an elastic face and body that makes me laugh and laugh.”

Now that the final film is almost here, Dockery can reveal that she is happy with the way Mary’s storyline ends. “I don’t think people will be surprised by the way things turn out for Mary. I think people have gotten used to her independence, and it’s not neatly tied up in a bow for her romantically—and that’s okay,” Dockery says. “I was really cool with that. Even though we are finishing it, it feels like the story is continuing, and there is somewhere to go beyond what we are showing you on screen. As much as this is the grand finale, it’s a new beginning. The young are taking over. There is this passing of the baton in this film. That means the story continues in many ways.”

As the end credits reveal, the film is also dedicated to the late Maggie Smith—who played Lady Violet Crawley, the formidable dowager countess of Grantham. Without spoiling any details, the last scene of the movie involves Dockery honoring Smith. “I was emotional doing that scene. Actually, performing that moment was a real challenge,” she says. While filming, director Simon Curtis also gave her a note that made Dockery cry. “They had to keep retouching my makeup, ‘cause Mary always remains stoic,” she says. “It wouldn’t have felt right at that moment for her to be bursting into tears. At the end, everything wraps up so brilliantly. I think people will need to take tissues!”