‘Downton Abbey’ season 4 spoilers: Meet the other suitor for Michelle Dockery’s Mary

Over the course of this summer, almost all of the “Downton Abbey” energy surrounding a prospective love interest for Michelle Dockery’s Mary has been thrust onto one person, and that is Tom Cullen’s Lord Anthony Gillingham. In many ways, it’s easy to understand the hype: He’s a man who has known Mary for some time, and given that the premiere picks up many months after the finale, Mary may at least be in a position where she is starting to look at the possibility of romance again.

But what about one of the other possible suitors for her heart? This is where we have Charles Blake entering the fray. There is still not too much known about the character (played by “Smash” alum Julian Ovenden), except that he is credited for appearing in the show’s very first episode and that he is some sort of aristocrat who drives through the Abbey in the year 1922 along with Evelyn Napier. However, initial reports are that he and Lady Mary do not get along very well. This could be an opposites attract sort of situation where they bond more in time (like Mary and Matthew did), or this could be the most one-sided romance imaginable.

No matter what, Blake at least presents another option beyond Gillingham for Mary, but there is also the very real possibility that she chooses to be alone. After all, just take into account everything else currently happening in her life. Times are changing in Britain, and the days of old family estates are slowly starting to wither away. Her sister Edith is working and modernizing herself more, and she also has a child to raise. There are so many distractions from men, and thus, she may feel like she does not need one to be happy.

What is your feeling about Charles Blake right now? If you want to read our spotlights on the other new “Downton Abbey” characters this season, just be sure to visit the link here.

Photo: ITV