‘Downton Abbey’ season 5 spoilers: Exec pulls no punches on future character deaths

There have been some mixed signals about whether or not a character will die on “Downton Abbey” season 5, but we’re at least pretty confident now that the narrative the producers want to be pushing right now is that for the time being, no one is safe.

We’ve seen at least a little bit of evidence of this very thing in the promos that ITV and PBS have put out there for the new season, which feature some very ominous narration from Mr. Carson (Jim Carter) about change. Now, you’ve got some ominous quotes from executive producer Gareth Neame to go along with it. It may feel like there has been quite a bit of death on this series over the years, but speaking in an interview with TVLine, he puts much of it smartly in perspective:

“We’ve lost so many key characters already. Although the show’s only been on for four years, we’ve actually covered 10 to 12 years, so it’s reasonable that within any family, there’d be deaths in that timeframe.”

If we were to sit here and play the game about who is most likely to die (which seems to be a rather cruel game), we know that the Dowager’s name is always going to be out there thanks to age. However, we also know that Maggie Smith has a big story coming up this season. Robert or Cora could also be candidates, and you could ultimately worry about Carson, as well. All of the uptight behavior and a lack of stress relief has to take its toll on a man. The one thing that has been a real surprise has been that of the major deaths on the show (namely Sybil and Matthew), both were members of high society seemingly with better healthcare options available to them. This to us actually makes someone downstairs in a little more jeopardy.

We’ll have some more news on this and other “Downton Abbey” stories coming up, so be on the lookout! Also, you can sign up today to have a generous dose of all things TV sent to you in our CarterMatt Newsletter.

Photo: ITV