By Kayla DeKraker
DOWNTON ABBEY fans are riding the emotional rollercoaster of the franchise coming to an end with DOWNTON ABBEY: THE GRAND FINALE…or is it?
In an interview with Variety, DOWNTON’s producer Gareth Neame was asked the pressing question, “So is this absolutely, definitely the end of DOWNTON?”
His response left fans with a glimmer of hope: “It is definitely the end and the clue’s in the title. But I reserve my right to change my mind.”
Neame mentioned how, although the original TV series, which ran from 2010 to 2015, was surprisingly revived with three movies, he thinks it would be hard to bring DOWNTON back after Maggie Smith’s death, who played Violet Crawley.
Related: DOWNTON ABBEY Celebrates its ‘Grand Finale’ With Can’t-Miss NBC Special
“The TV show came to a definite end. Because although I already had the ambition to take it to the big screen at that point, there was no guarantee that would work. So there was an ending for the TV show, for sure. But this is the full stop on all of these characters,” he told Variety. “Because the second film, I felt was Violet’s story, Maggie Smith’s character, but it didn’t really have a conclusion for any of the other characters. So this is the end point for all of them.”
Thankfully, in THE GRAND FINALE, fans got resolution for all the characters’ storylines.
“It’s just the last time we will see these characters and we will have a sense of where they’re all going to,” Neame said.
“The audience was saying goodbye to them. The actors were saying goodbye to them, but the characters weren’t saying goodbye to each other,” director Simon Curtis told Entertainment Weekly. “So, we had to moderate that. They’re going on to live their lives. I wanted to find a way to give a sense that their lives will continue.”
Movieguide®’s synopsis of DOWNTON ABBEY: THE GRANDE FINALE reads, “Set in 1930, the story opens in London, where the beautiful heiress to the family’s Yorkshire estate, Mary, faces social disgrace when her husband publicly divorces her. Meanwhile, the family faces unexpected financial trouble when the mother, Cora’s, brother from America brings news about financial failure. Also, the family’s servants undergo some changes and challenges of their own.”
Movieguide® notes that the film “has a strong morally uplifting, conservative and traditional worldview that extols duty, service, family, respect for the past, and compassion and hospitality for other people” but “has an implied bedroom scene, brief foul language, and light, brief, implied references to a homosexual relationship.”
DOWNTON ABBEY: THE GRANDE FINALE is currently in theaters as of Sept. 12, with plans to come to streaming on Peacock at a later date yet to be announced.
Read Next: DOWNTON ABBEY’s Final Movie Sparks New Franchise Interest
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