‘Downton Abbey’ season 5 could be the last season, says Julian Fellowes

Are we starting to near the end of the “Downton Abbey” journey? This is something that we have personally wondered about for a while, mostly because there is some evidence to suggest that it could be coming to an end sooner rather then later. The contracts for many actors are going to be coming up, and there is also the notion that many of them want to do other things in the movies. The last thing anyone should want with a show is to do something that drags it out for far longer than it really should. Therefore, we have to expect that this will all be taken into deep consideration.

In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, Fellowes admitted that it is still in the air whether or not we would see a season 6, and that may not be something that is decided right away.

What was also nice to hear in this interview is some talk about “The Gilded Age,” the show that was announced a while ago for NBC but has not materialized since. Basically, Fellowes says that he will not do it until he is through with his work on his current show:

“It’s for NBC Universal and it will happen when Downton finishes because I just couldn’t do both at once. I haven’t written it yet, but it’s about the old aristocracy, the Winthrops and the Stuyvesants and the new money of oil and gas and shipping in the 1870s. It will all be fiction – it won’t be real people – but when those families descended on New York, they took over.”

Our guess is that with Fellowes’ acclaim and prestige, “The Gilded Age” will eventually air on TV … but it may be a while before it happens. Specifically, we will be shocked if it is around at any point before fall 2015 or even later.

“Downton Abbey” season 4 is coming off a ratings victory, as the show delivered some of its best numbers in the history of PBS on Sunday night.