'Downton Abbey' May Not End Happily For Every Character, Hints Exec Producer Gareth Neame
Downton Abbey Finale - What We've Been Told So Far
Caroline Frost— The Huffington Post UK
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'Downton Abbey's new series is on its way to screen - for the sixth and final time, and there's good news and bad news.
The good news is that exec producer Gareth Neame, while giving little away, has promised the stunning home of Downton - Highclere Castle in real life - won't be blown up or otherwise wrecked in some huge dramatic finale.
"It is not Downton pulling up the drawbridge, not a thunderbolt that destroys it,” he reveals. “The camera will move away."
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"Not every character will have a happy ending," says producer Gareth Neame of the final series of Downton Abbey
However, the bad news is that he can't guarantee every character will get to walk off happily into the sunset, when the curtains finally close on the show that has claimed viewers' hearts since it debuted in 2010.
"We don't have to have completely happy endings," Gareth tells the Guardian. "But for the audience.. it is an overwhelmingly positive show, even when melancholic."
What we do know is that the new series is set firmly in the flapper age of 1925, which makes it 13 years in real time since the show began (news of the Titanic sinking punctuated the very first episode). And Lord Grantham might keep hold of his money, with Gareth Neame saying it would be unfair for him to have to endure the Wall Street Crash - "he has had to endure too much."
The series continues to draw in millions of viewers around the world, where it has been sold to 250 territories, and neither ITV nor US channel Masterpiece were keen for it to end. Instead, the decision is being reported as a joint one between Gareth Neame, writer Lord Julian Fellowes and the actors, apparently.
“I am very conscious, finishing the show earlier is a classic thing, quitting while ahead. I prefer that to [being] two years down the line and we couldn’t secure an actor," says Gareth.
This decision takes into account the previous departures of Dan Stevens and Jessica Brown Findlay, whose characters were both killed off when the actors decided to make their break for the big screen.
”The direction of travel is tying things up for the 20 characters, [with] some conclusions focused on the heroes," says Gareth.
Gareth admits, however, that finally saying goodbye will be full of “bittersweet emotions … It’s going to be a very, very different life without Downton.”
So what CAN we hope for in the final series? Here are 8 things we NEED to happen before the final dinner bell tolls...
8 Things That Need To Happen In Downton Abbey
Love downstairs(01 of08)
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Mr Carson and Mrs Hughes need to just get on with it. They've dilly-dallied around each other for five whole series, they've held hands in the sand, they nearly bought a house together and now, finally, FINALLY, Mr Carson has seen the light and put a ring on it. Come on folks, let's have a Downton wedding that doesn't end in tragedy, being arrested for murder or being abandoned at the aisle. It's just time.
Decisions, decisions...(02 of08)
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Lady Mary, choose already! Ever since the eldest girl eventually emerged from the Havisham-esque veil of gloom after losing her husband to the promise of co-starring with Ben Stiller, sorry I mean motoring tragedy, she's been a right fickle minx, playing with the emotions of not one but two suitors, and even booking a hotel room to err… test the merchandise before making a purchase. Come on Mary, you've had your fun, now it's time to secure the house and the name - there must be another surprise cousin waiting to rock up to the annual fair, and stoke the fire within the iceberg, surely?
In From The Cold(03 of08)
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That married editor gentle-chap needs to come back from the dead, and save Lady Mousey Middle One from a life of independence with her recently reclaimed child. With or without a 'tingling' down below. We're not fussy.
Get With The(se) Times(04 of08)
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If ever there was a character overdue some romance, it's surely the tragic Mr Barrow. Yes, he's still a bit mischievous, conniving and controlling, but the love of a good man could curb that. Ever since his passion for Jimmy took the better of him and he was swiftly despatched, his lot has been reduced to prowling the corridors looking for secrets. Downton might not be able to race ahead to a time of gay marriage (despite the Dowager STILL on her feet in 2014, no doubt), but at least some romance, surely…
As Sinitta Sang, I Need A Toyboy(05 of08)
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Countess Dowager needs to find herself a toyboy (who may or may not resemble George Clooney). Enough of the quivering, courtly Russian, she needs a proper bold toe-tapper to bring her into the roaring 20s so she can finally found out what a weekend is.
Doctor In The House(06 of08)
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Meanwhile, Mrs Crawley needs to see what's humming right under her nose, and marry that good doctor so they can be happy, and worthy, ever after.
Not-So-Ditzy Daisy(07 of08)
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Daisy needs to run for Parliament - on a radical, left-wing manifesto to protect the workers and reclaim all that land and money that her former masters have been sitting on. I mean, when has that ever gone wrong?
Trading Places(08 of08)
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Earl Grantham and his wife need to stop furrowing their brows over the diminishing family fortunes, simply pop the keys to the Downton Abbey back through the letter box, start making the sandwiches in the National Trust coffee shop on the corner of their estate and then retire to to the Everglades, where Americans can ask Robert if he knows the Queen.