‘Downton Abbey’ season 4 spoilers: How much life is there really left?
Is it possible that “Downton Abbey” could last for an entire decade? While we doubt that the odds of this happening are necessarily substantial, we have an interesting perfect-world scenario coming now for a show that many pegged to be over within a couple of years.
Speaking in a new interview with the New York Daily News, executive producer Gareth Neame expressed the rather-surprising belief that this is a series that could feasibly last for as long as ten years, at least if the stars managed to align in all of the right ways:
“I think it is going to go on for a while. Right now the show is still growing in the U.S. and it would be awful to think of the show ending … I would rather let the show run between four and 10 years, I imagine.”
Ultimately, we see a number of issues with this show in particular going on for that long. For one, none of the actors in England sign the same sort of binding contracts that they do in America, meaning that many of them will have to re-negotiate far sooner. Translation? Dan Stevens and Jessica Brown Findlay are not going to be the only actors who develop an interest in taking on some other projects elsewhere. Maggie Smith in particular seems to be taking this on a year-by-year basis, and she could decide to take off at any given point.
It is the tradition in Britain for series to end (save for maybe “Doctor Who”) long before they reach a decade on the air, so if we had to guess, we would say that the “Downton Abbey” shelf life is probably around six seasons at most.
What do you make of Neame’s comments? Be sure to share some of your thoughts below! Also, if you want to read some more scoop on the future of Michelle Dockery’s Mary, you can do so over at the link here.
Photo: ITV
springchicken
May 10, 2013 @ 8:14 pm
The first 3 seasons of Downton Abbey reminded me of other mini-series in the
U.S., like North and South or The Winds of War, but MUCH better done. After considering the ending of Season 3, I think Downton Abbey is already over for me, and I won’t continue on with Season 4. Why? The writer seemed to bring 9 years worth of turmoil, love, betrayal, financial chaos and droll humor to a conclusion at the end of season 3 with the birth of Matthew and Mary’s baby, and in my imagination Matthew and Mary would continue on happily ever after
raising the new heir and any additional children in the halls of the
Abbey. Matthew went from being the “outsider” and stranger to the family to the saviour and protector of Downton’s future – , through his love for Mary and appreciation for the estate itself – a true transformation. Mary and Edith have mended their terrible relationship and vow to love each other as sisters should after the death of Sybil, Matthew manages to bridge the gap between Tom and Robert for the good and future prosperity of Downton and form a working alliance, and Tom is given a reason to stay with little Sybil at the big house (although his future romances seem limited). Edith has a new life as a writer and a new love interest, and all realize after their trip to the Highlands (from the observations of Shrimpie) that the Crawley family is seen as a loving family with an estate “in good order”. The downstairs staff seemed to have resolved their issues as well, with among other things Thomas seen as a sort of hero, and now friend, of Jimmy’s, and the future is sound for Anna and Bates. Besides all that, I don’t know how you continue the story line of Downton w/out Matthew’s character, and it certainly didn’t seem right to kill off another main character (Sybil then Matthew) in the same season within 24 hrs after the birth of their child, throwing everyone into a state of grief and mourning yet again. Seems rather harsh, even for a tv show.
So I watched the last show of season 3 for the second time, and after Matthew kisses Mary and they turn to look at their new baby – I turned the “telly” off, and said out loud “All’s well that ends well!”. In my mind, they live on happily ever after. The End.