A few weeks ago, some of the cast gathered to watch “Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale.” Although they had shot the movie last summer, it was only then that stars Hugh Bonneville and Michelle Dockery realized the film was the ultimate culmination of 15 years of work.
“Michelle and I squeezed each other’s hands as we watched the final frames of the movie,” Bonneville, 61, says, speaking alongside Dockery over Zoom in late August. Each are in their separate homes, but there’s a sense of convivial affection between them after playing Robert Crawley, the Earl of Grantham, and his eldest daughter, Lady Mary, for so long. He acknowledges, “It really did feel like the end, that time.”
“It did,” Dockery agrees. “And we’ve had a lot of endings. With the series, it felt like we didn’t really know where it would go beyond that. It felt quite definitive at the time. And even after the first film there was no guarantee there was going to be a second. But this one does feel like the goodbye.”
“There’s always talks of spinoffs in outer space and all sorts of other iterations of it,” Bonneville jokes. “You discover the castle has got a rocket ship underneath.”
More seriously, he adds, “But for us lot, this is certainly the end.”
Since the series finale of “Downton Abbey” aired in 2015 after six seasons and 52 episodes, creator Julian Fellowes has written three films, concluding with “Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale” (in theaters Sept. 12). Although the movies were never inevitable, Fellowes is clear that this is the last time these particular characters will appear onscreen together.
“It’s certainly the end of the original cast,” Fellowes says, speaking separately over Zoom from his home in England. “It’s been quite a long time together, but, yes, it is the end. Whether there are any more ‘Downton’ rip-offs or connections or whatever, I couldn’t tell you. There’s nothing firm at the moment. But whatever comes back, it won’t be with this original cast. We’ve come to a natural ending.”
“The Grand Finale,” written by Fellowes and directed by Simon Curtis, brings the Crawley family to 1930, a time of profound change in British society. Robert is reluctantly handing the estate over to Mary. It’s a generational shift that harks back to the show’s premiere, which saw Robert and his wife, Cora (Elizabeth McGovern), grappling with the future of both their eldest daughter and Downton Abbey. Although Robert began passing the torch in 2022’s “Downton Abbey: A New Era,” it’s only now that he is reckoning with his own mortality. Mary, meanwhile, is in the midst of a public divorce scandal that threatens to derail her reputation.
“Putting Mary into a situation where she is divorced largely against her will pushed her into the modern world in a way she might not have gone if she’d been left to her own devices,” Fellowes says. “It allowed me to create a barrier between her and the world to which she has been born. She has to reinvent herself.”
Bonneville and Dockery have been playing father and daughter since they first met on the day of the show’s first read-through in 2010. Dockery was then largely unknown, while Bonneville had a thriving career onscreen, in films like “Notting Hill” and “Iris,” and in theater. Both recall there being a buzz around the series, which Fellowes wrote after the success of his Oscar-winning script for Robert Altman’s satirical 2001 murder mystery “Gosford Park.”
“Getting that role was massive,” Dockery says. “I’ll never forget the phone call. And we had such a great time on that first series, didn’t we? There was definitely a feeling of: We’re on to something really good here.”
“But at the same time, in terms of publicity and trying to get the show seen by the press, no one was interested,” Bonneville jumps in. “Costume drama was dead. I remember talking to [producer] Gareth Neame about the idea of a three-season option and he said, ‘Don’t worry, this isn’t going to run beyond seven episodes.’ So there was an innocence to that first season. There were no expectations on us, and we had a lovely time.”
He laughs, adding, “By the time we started shooting Season 2, they had to have people pulling photographers out of trees.”
Despite that early lack of press coverage, “Downton Abbey” quickly became a global phenomenon. It went on to be nominated for 69 Emmys, winning 15, and the cast won the Screen Actors Guild’s ensemble award three times.
“There was such a circus around it,” Dockery remembers. “We were flying all over the world. Coming back to work on each season did feel like coming home. Not a lot had changed. We were the same. What I loved about doing ‘Downton’ is that it felt very homely.”
“We felt a great comfort in getting back together,” Bonneville agrees. “It was like you’d gone back into the stockade and you could shut the gate and get on with the work.”
When the series ended, there were immediate rumors of a follow-up film, but it took a few years for everyone to come back together. The first “Downton Abbey” movie arrived in 2019, followed by “A New Era” in 2022. Reuniting an ensemble cast that included Maggie Smith was a challenge for the filmmakers, but Bonneville says everyone has always genuinely wanted to be there.
“We weren’t going to come back if we all loathed each other,” he says. “We were very lucky that way.” He adds, grinning, “Even Maggie’s cane didn’t hit too many people.”
The dowager countess haunts the film, Fellowes says. Her character died at the end of “A New Era,” before the legendary actor’s own death at 89 in September 2024. “The Grand Finale” was shot while Smith was still alive, and the cast felt both her presence and her absence strongly on set.
“We talked about her a lot on this last movie,” Dockery says. “Because when someone is missed, you talk about them.”
“Her death scene felt like a farewell, and I reflected on the fact that I called her mum for 12 years and that was very strange,” Bonneville adds. “The sense of her legacy was really vivid for me at the end of the second movie. In this one, there was a mourning of the fictional character and we were aware that we weren’t filming with her. The fact that she did pass later that year does make the film feel like an appropriate memorial to her.”
Death has always been part of the fabric of the storytelling on “Downton Abbey.” Fans are still grieving the loss of the third Crawley sister, Lady Sybil (Jessica Brown Findlay), who died in childbirth in Season 3, as well as Mary’s first husband, Matthew (Dan Stevens), who died that same season. It’s purposeful for Fellowes that the series and the films have addressed the ephemeral nature of life, something that’s also present in “The Grand Finale.” Not only is the film about Mary stepping up as head of the estate, but it’s also about how Robert and Cora move on.
“When you’re accepting that your role with the estate, with the family business, is done and it’s time to let your children have their time, you are also accepting that you’re going to die and that your life is entering its final chapter,” Fellowes says. “When you’re young, you think you’re going to be the first human being not to die and you’ll live forever. Then you have to start acknowledging that death is a possibility.”
“The easiest thing would have been for Robert to plow on until he truly pegged out and by which time the estate probably would have been run into the ground or mismanaged,” Bonneville says. “It’s very modern that Mary’s there to handle the estate until [her son] George is of age. And she’s the right person to do it.”
“She is very resourceful,” Dockery agrees of Mary’s tenacity and ability to imagine a new future for Downton, particularly new ways of funding the estate. “She thinks outside the box, and things are beginning to change, and people are starting to think differently.”
McGovern, who played Bonneville’s wife onscreen twice before being cast on “Downton Abbey,” says Cora’s emotional flexibility has always helped pave the way for the more stubborn Robert.
“The story resonated for both of us very personally because we are negotiating that next phase of our life in many ways,” she says, speaking over Zoom from New York City. “I love that ‘Downton Abbey’ is grappling with these things that movies on that level never grapple with — the idea of characters aging. Julian created this ensemble that gives something for everybody, young and old.”
Robert’s eventual willingness to listen to reason in “The Grand Finale” was important to Bonneville. He says the character’s “emotional intelligence seemed to get less and less” during some seasons of the show, and he recalls confronting Fellowes about Robert’s inability to be kind to Mary after Matthew’s death.
“He said, ‘Bear with me — it’s all going to be all right,’” Bonneville recalls. “And he always did this. He’d start off with Robert being completely out of touch and by the end of the season he’d actually come around to understanding. It was a bit of a repeated joke that I kept going to Julian, ‘Why has Robert’s IQ gone down?’ But in the final film, he’s the Robert I so enjoyed reading in the first episode.”
“All families are concerned with what happens next,” Fellowes says of the story’s thematic undercurrent. “We make these marriages, we take these jobs, we have these children, and nothing is ever quite as you imagined it would be. You’re always having to make adjustments to the way things turn out.”
In “The Grand Finale,” Fellowes wanted to see how the father and daughter’s dynamic had evolved since those early episodes. One particular moment, where Mary takes Robert to see a London apartment, reveals their generational tension. The earl is shocked to discover that the family would have neighbors and that he’d have to “go along” the hallway to bed rather than ascend the stairs as he would in a grand home. (His entitled dissonance recalls Smith’s memorable line “What is a weekend?”)
“I pushed for that [line] because I love the idea of going along rather than up and showing the distance from most people’s reality,” Bonneville says, chuckling as he recalls the scene. “It’s symbolic of what’s happening — the downsizing of life and the handing over of control.”
He adds of Mary, “Robert inevitably rolls his eyes at her antics, but he’s actually far more tolerant than he seems. And I think he is secretly delighted that she’s more adventurous than he ever was.”
On set, McGovern referred to Bonneville and director Curtis (her real-life spouse) as her “husbands” and Dockery says McGovern has dubbed her “Docky Daughter.” She will occasionally reply to a text from her using the affectionate “Mama.”
“We’ve grown so close over the years, as we all have, and that dynamic has been there from the beginning,” Dockery says. “Laura [Carmichael, who plays her sister Edith] and I were in our 20s, and it felt like Elizabeth took us under her wing and that friendship continued.”
“I’ve always loved Cora and Mary’s relationship, and I think it’s a lot like my relationship with Michelle in many ways,” McGovern tells me. “In the same way that Cora is slightly in awe of Mary because she represents this new sort of woman, I felt like, as an actress, the same about Michelle.”
The poignant last moments of “The Grand Finale” are satisfying and tearjerking, reflecting both on the pasts and futures of the characters. But while it is an ending, it is not a closed door.
“This film has a feeling that there is life beyond ‘Downton’ for these characters,” Dockery says. “They are moving on, which will be lovely for the fans. But even though it’s the end, it feels like there’s a continuation of the story.”
Although fans won’t be privy to that next chapter, it’s easy to imagine where these characters will go and how the world around them will continue to change. And if Dockery has any ideas about what’s to come for Mary, she will say no more.
The post After 15 years of ‘Downton Abbey,’ Hugh Bonneville and Michelle Dockery can’t quite say goodbye appeared first on Los Angeles Times.
