‘Downton Abbey’ season 4: Casting news to impact Michelle Dockery, Allen Leech
“Downton Abbey” season 4 has yet to begin filming, but there is still plenty of work being done when it comes to the casting process. Want to know more? All you have to do is listen to what the show’s creator Julian Fellowes is saying now. (Warning: the following contains spoilers for American readers. Continue on at your own risk.)
Speaking in a new interview with TV Guide, Fellowes teases that there is already a role being cast on the show that will end up impacting the storylines for both Michelle Dockery’s Lady Mary and Allen Leech’s Tom Branson. How so? Let’s just say that the widow and the widower’s children will be receiving a nanny to help raise them in their formative years. Fellowes says that they have a “lovely nursery story” lined up for the season, and with his choice in adjectives here we are going to go ahead and assume that the show is not planning to do anything horrible to the children as it was forced to do to both Lady Sybil and Matthew Crawley after Jessica Brown Findlay and Dan Stevens each chose to leave the show.
We know that there are plans for both Tom and Mary to try and consider romantic relationships again moving forward, though we have already cautioned multiple times that trying to put the two together would be a mistake. They may also have some other stories to preoccupy their time, as Mary may find other pursuits and Tom is expected now to play a much larger role in the estate with Matthew’s death in mind.
“Downton Abbey” season 4 will begin filming in the months ahead, and is currently expected to premiere on ITV in the fall. As for fans in America, brace yourselves for another long wait: we don’t see any reason why PBS would suddenly decide to shift the show to spring with the commercial implications of doing so.
What sort of storyline do you want to see for each of these characters? Be sure to share your thoughts below!
Photo: ITV
Mary Odham
March 19, 2013 @ 12:17 pm
I HOPE SEASON 4 WILL START IN THE SPRING INSTEAD OF IN THE FALL.I REALLY LIKE THIS SHOW.
lily
March 11, 2013 @ 5:18 am
this is stupid. tom waited 6 years for sybil and a few years after her death he will have a new love interest? it’s out of character, tragic, and is really just lazy writing.
the nanny? oh jeez, really? well i hope that is just another edna-plot and nothing serious. god, thats both cliche and horrible
Tricia
March 1, 2013 @ 11:19 pm
A Mary and Tom relationship could be interesting, even better Tom and Edith. Edith and the married man is yet another tragic ending for Edith. However, marriage to tom should marry the family dance with joy after her past history, and make Mary very jealous if Edith is helps with the man running the estate. It gives edith added and I think Tom couldds love her ands vice//verwrsa
anonymous
February 21, 2013 @ 11:19 pm
Killing off Mathew was a very bad idea.He was handsome and sweet!Save him!Don’t let him die!Just make it injuries!He could be paralyzed for all we care!You killed off the best character!Do all it takes to get him back!The show is horrible now!Save Mathew!
Anonymous
February 18, 2013 @ 5:05 pm
I’m very disappointed that Matthew was killed off the show. I don’t know if I’m going to like the whole story anymore. Mary and Matthew’s romance was just beautiful the way he spoke his love for her. They just had a baby which are wonderful events that happen in life. Now he’s dead. It just sucks!
Aurora Manning
February 18, 2013 @ 1:56 pm
While I very strongly wish that there will not be a Tom Branson and Lady Mary Crawley romance and pairing, I certainly would like get the plot development that writer and creator Julian Fellowes decides for Downton Abbey, post Sybil and Matthew.
Congratulations and thanks to everyone involved in the production of Downton Abbey.
rwarton
January 30, 2013 @ 11:38 pm
I think it would be fantastic and interesting if Tom and Mary were put together. It would be quite hard for them both to move on to another person after their losses, I do think they need somebody in their lives too to help them with the little Sybil and newborn baby boy. The little Sybil will desperately need a mother and the newborn baby will need a father. I think Mary and Tom do need somebody in their lives to always be right by their side, and I think it would be wonderful if they put Mary and Tom together.
xemmett
January 25, 2013 @ 2:50 pm
When are we going to see Tom without that long underwear shirt? Take it off !
xemmett
January 25, 2013 @ 2:44 pm
Let Matthew go, he has become such a raging bore and is turning into a snob. Oh dear the tail of his coat has a tear and he had to wear black tie, off with his head!
MK
January 23, 2013 @ 6:40 am
Does anyone remember Reggie Swire owed Sir Richard such a great deal of money that it would have bankrupt him? The sole reason why Lavinia stole papers from her Uncle Jonathan Swire for Sir Richard to publish the Marconi scandal was to save her father. {Sir Richard forgave the Swire debt because of her actions. (Season 2) } Matthew inherited Swire’s money, and it is being used to save Downton.
I suggest bringing Sir Richard back for Season 4 to shake things up! Somehow the debt has not been forgiven, and Sir Richard wants his money back!
Anonymous
January 22, 2013 @ 7:36 pm
Did Downton Abby get new writers? This season 3 is awlful, hard getting through the whole episode, don’t enjoy it like I used to.
Crazy, boring story lines. Please get back to the way in which seasons 1 and 2 were written. Keep the main characters involved (the ones on the cover of the DVD boxes). Obviously, if an actor wants out they get to go. I wish Matthew didn’t go!
Heather
January 22, 2013 @ 12:15 pm
I must add, as I forgot one can not be upset that the wretched Vera died. But this is more like it! If this show does continue however, how about casting Felicity Kendall. I miss her from Rosemary & Thyme and I think she would do well in on this program. AND PLEASE LET EDITH GET CHARLIE BACK AND WRITE LINES THAT INDICATE WHAT SHE DID WAS WRONG AND SO WAS HIS GRANDFATHER. THAT is the reality for single mothers and adopted children you know. Thank you.
Heather
January 22, 2013 @ 11:58 am
Why continue on with this series? All the good people are gone/killed off. William,
SPOILER ALERT:
Sybil and Matthew who dies in the last episode of series 3. I am tired of tv programs where the evil/obnoxious people never get theirs and the wonderful people get what they don’t deserve. I am also livid about what happens with Edith’s character and all the modern day BULLOCKS about how a single mother should give her child away (brought to you by greedy adoption industry, the evil Care industry and immature infertile couples) All the prejudice thrown at these women and how low they are (enough to make her a prostitute!) just makes me sick and I am tired of television promoting it. Downtown has been quite a disappointment to this viewer.
anon
January 22, 2013 @ 6:50 am
I think a Tom and Mary romance would be fascinating. It’s so bizarrely unlikely it’s intriguing. In fact, I’m now fully in favor of it just because it’s so weird it’s good.
Anonymous
January 22, 2013 @ 2:47 am
Tom has can’t go back down. He has to stay within the family and marrying beneath them would bring his status down
Lee
January 21, 2013 @ 1:54 pm
Agree: Mary and Tom do not belong together. I would think Tom is more ready for romance, since he has been widowed quite a bit longer than Mary. It seems too soon for Mary.
If the nanny is good enough for Tom (pretty, smart and nice like Sybil), she could be a good love interest. Then again, maybe she’ll be a cozy old granny type.