‘Downton Abbey’ season 4, episode 1 preview: A look at Brendan Coyle, Joanne Froggatt
Another day, and another look at the “Downton Abbey” season 4 premiere creeping up on Sunday evening (at least for viewers in Britain). This episode has the bold challenge of keeping viewers interested in a post-Dan Stevens world; it’s not always easy to lose cast members of that magnitude, especially when you are forced to try and bring in new people or bump up the importance of supporting characters. Many viewers are traditionalists and like the original cast only, but we’re hoping that we have a massive-enough crew here to make up for it.
Two characters that are going to factor very much into the series’ plans this year? Anna and Bates. Joanne Froggatt and Brendan Coyle’s characters are fan favorites, and they may be the most beloved couple left now on the show.
When season 3 ended, it did so with these two characters in a very happy state; based on this photo of them kissing from the premiere, it appears that they will be in the same place when the show starts back. Unfortunately, we have come to very much learn over the years with TV that all good things come to an end, and Froggatt herself has already teased that there will eventually be some drama ahead for the couple.
One thing that we are going to start doing beginning on Sunday is trying to clearly mark our stories on whether or not there are season 4 spoilers ahead. We understand that there are some Americans out there who want to try and remain spoiler-free until January (hard as that may be), and we want to respect them in their decision by not ruining any of the fun (and let’s face it: There’s not much else on TV in January that is fun).
Want to read and see more from the “Downton Abbey” premiere? Then we have a pair of other resources to check out.
1. Watch a video sneak peek showing Mary’s state of deep melancholy following the Matthew tragedy.
2. See some new photos of Laura Carmichael’s Edith, who is undergoing quite a transformation into a more modern London woman.
Photo: ITV