‘Downton Abbey’ season 4 spoilers: Michelle Dockery and the world of misery

The following news is probably not going to surprise too many people out there: For the upcoming fourth season of “Downton Abbey,” Michelle Dockery’s character of Mary is not going to be a particularly happy camper. To what extent are we talking about here? To use a modern analogy, her emotional state will not be in the same zip code as some of the other characters early on. Think of her in terms of a shell of her former self, with the photo to the left being a little bit of evidence of just what we are talking about here.

For another, perhaps more appropriate analogy, we turn to show creator Julian Fellowes, who told xfinityTV the following on the subject of what the character’s initial struggle is going to be trying to move on from Matthew’s death:

”She is still very much in mourning at the beginning of the show … One of the strands of the new [season], in a way, is her learning to rejoin the land of the living.”

Will Mary have a little bit of help in shaking out some of the cobwebs? It looks like it, with some of her most-valuable allies coming in the form of such people as her family members, and maybe even eventually some love interests. The problem with these people is that she will likely not benefit from them in any way until she is starting to heal on her own, and that may not be until we reach the end of the season.

If you want to also hear what Julian Fellowes had to say about how it actually helped the series in a strange way to have Dan Stevens leave, all you have to do is click here.

Photo: ITV