‘Downton Abbey’ season 4: Guess who’s back online?

While America is busy getting addicted to “Downton Abbey” all over again, we’re going to turn our attention brifely here to what is coming up for the ITV / PBS television series moving forward beyond season 3 … which also means that we start this off with a massive disclaimer: stop reading now if you want to avoid any and all spoilers.

So guess who is back online now after an extended absence? It’s none other than Dan Stevens! We wondered whether or not he was merely taking a holiday break after the news hit that his character of Matthew Crawley had died during the season 3 Christmas special, or if he was trying to avoid the Twitter backlash from people who were hoping that he was going to stick around for a while longer. Regardless, we are pleased to report that the actor indeed made a brief return to his always-fun social media page early Monday morning, though he of course kept-things spoiler-free (and even had a rather brief chat with none other than Patton Oswalt about Matthew’s desk).

While we are still rather sad to see Stevens go, we do earnestly believe that he will find some success elsewhere. He is already starring in “The Heiress” on Broadway alongside Jessica Chastain, and he also has a number of literary pursuits that he continues to focus on (including being the Editor-at-Large for The Junket).

Stevens’ exit from the show will likely be addressed during the lengthy season finale that airs in America in March; until that time, be sure to keep checking back for more news courtesy of both the American and British press.

If you want to see just what we had to say about the return of “Downton Abbey” in America Sunday night, be sure to head on over to the link here.

Photo: ITV