‘Downton Abbey’ season 4: A major change behind the scenes

(Warning: the following contains spoilers for American viewers. Read on at your own risk.)

We have written already about a number of key shifts occurring on “Downton Abbey” in front of the camera in between the exits of Dan Stevens and Jessica Brown Findlay, and on this particular occasion we have some breaking news pertaining to some people who are in some ways responsible for getting the series to first air on British station ITV in the first place. Luckily, this move will likely not have any impact at all on what happens with the actual production of the series moving forward.

In a statement on Tuesday, the network’s director of drama Laura Mackey and director of drama Sally Haynes announced that they were leaving the company in order to start their own production branch at the end of June, which will be right in the middle of “Downton Abbey” production. These two brought a number of key properties to ITV, and helped it maintain its status as a top competitor to the BBC when it comes to both ratings along with having a high-quality slate of programs.

Here is what the network’s director of television Peter Fincham had to say about the news today:

“Laura and Sally have had a tremendous run at ITV and their legacy is an incredibly strong drama slate for 2013 and beyond. We’re going to miss them, but we wish them all the very best for their exciting new venture and look forward to working with them again.”

There is no premiere date set at the moment for “Downton Abbey” season 4 in Britain, but we anticipate it being the same as in years past, with the show airing beginning in September while it will not land stateside until January.

If you want to know some more news that actually pertains to the show’s production, you can find out by heading on over to the link here.

Photo: ITV