‘Downton Abbey’ season 6: Elizabeth McGovern, Julian Fellowes, more talk series finale

A few selected cast members of “Downton Abbey” gathered this weekend with executive producer / writer Julian Fellows for a Writers Guild panel, and what we learned out of it were a variety of fun, interesting things. Many of the cast will miss filming at the beautiful Highclere Castle, while others will merely miss their co-stars and the opportunity to spend so much time making what is a stellar show.

However, at the same time, Elizabeth McGovern probably said it best when commenting that while these characters will live on and tell their stories, the cast has told “[their] bit of it.” Six seasons is a very long time for a British series to air (excluding of course soaps) and it is with that in mind we are greatly for 40 episodes so far plus multiple Christmas Specials.

There are still some other wonderful things to come, but ironically not even Fellowes knows for certain everything about the ending yet. He hasn’t even written the series finale completely yet!

To us, one of the best moments of the night came when Fellowes discussed the story for Violet (Maggie Smith) last season and meeting a potential love for her past. He specifically used this as an opportunity to discuss the double standard that tends to happen for men and women in Hollywood when it comes to telling love stories:

“I enjoy love and I like the idea that everyone has an emotional life, whether successful or not. I like older characters to have emotional lives. In Movieland, women’s sex lives end at 30 [whereas] men go on to 78.”

The new season of “Downton Abbey” premieres on ITV this fall and on PBS in America early next year; head over here to read some of the other latest news right away. Also, you can sign up here if you are interested in getting some other TV news and updates sent right to you, courtesy of our CarterMatt Newsletter. (Photo: ITV.)