‘Downton Abbey’ season 4 spoilers: Michelle Dockery hints at long life

We have been waiting for quite a long time to find out some more news on the upcoming fourth season of “Downton Abbey” … but what’s the logical thing for the press to do? Of course, talk about the possible fifth season of “Downton Abbey” instead.

To be fair, our sarcasm is not completely warranted given that there were a number of questions that were asked during the show’s TCA panel on Tuesday about what is coming up in the immediate future, but what has us most curious right now is the subject of the show’s long term future. You have a sensation that has taken the world by storm, and many of these actors are at this point pretty aware of their own success. They’ve got movie roles, other TV gigs, and they are traveling around the world doing promotions. Where do you find the time to spend half of the year making the show and still do other things?

The good news here is that, based on Michelle Dockery’s comment, it’s possible that most of our key characters could stay put in between the fourth and fifth season, which is the end of the current contract:

“What’s wonderful about the show is it’s opened doors for all of us. So many of the cast are doing things in between [seasons]… As far as we know, we’re all doing Season 5 next year. Beyond that, we really don’t know. As long as the core cast remains…”

The caveat that Dockery gave herself here clearly comes in the key words “as far as we know.” This could mean her playing oblivious to a major death or exit, or simply stating that it’s too early to tell. We’re sure that there will at least be another waiting game when it comes to Maggie Smith, who seems to debate her future on the show on a year-to-year basis.

Now if you do want some more news on the fourth season of “Downton Abbey,” have no fear: We have that for you and then some at this link.

Photo: ITV