Downton Abbey Cast Job Hunting, Is The End Near?
Sad news for fans of the critically acclaimed period drama Downton Abbey. Huffington Post U.K. reports that all signs suggest the upcoming sixth season of Downton Abbey will be the show’s last.
According to the Mirror, representatives of various cast members have been quietly trying to line up work for their clients when production of the sixth season wraps in the summer of 2015.
“Joanne Froggatt, Edith Carmichael and Allen Leech were in Los Angeles for the awards last week and there were several meetings about both TV and film roles.”
The article was published in the Mirror in January, suggesting that the awards ceremony was the Screen Actors Guild Awards. While the filming schedule of Downton Abbey would likely prevent any of the principal cast of Season 6 from participating in pilot season casting, its summer end date would allow them to work on shows scheduled to debut in the January mid-season time frame.
Contributing to the rumors of Downton Abbey’s demise are recent comments from Dame Maggie Smith. As previously reported by the Inquisitr, Smith indicated that she didn’t see how the show could go on beyond Season 6. Smith’s comments stemmed from the fact that her character, Violet Crawley, Dowager Countess of Grantham, should be nearly 110-years-old due to the accelerated timeline of Downton Abbey. Lady Violet Crawley’s sharp tongue has been a staple of DowntonAbbey since the first season, and for many it’s impossible to imagine the show continuing without her.
#MaggieSmith is #DowntonAbbey Mrs. Crawley: “I’ll take that as a compliment.”Lady Violet: “Oh, I must have said it wrong.”
— Mine (@Sejasemin) January 2, 2015
The Dowager Countess, full of Truth and Wisdom. #DowntonPBS pic.twitter.com/7KNXtMv9LW — Pam Stucky (@pamstucky) February 24, 2015
I can’t get enough of the Dowager Countess. #DowntonAbbey #DowntonPBS pic.twitter.com/ZpFkzg2sgY
— Samantha Oester (@samoester) February 24, 2015
Maggie Smith’s publicist attempted to calm the Dowager Countess of Grantham’s many fans by reminding them that Smith has always said she will stay with Downton Abbey as long as the show is on the air. Could both statements be true? Could Smith be committed to appearing in the sixth season of Downton Abbey, but well aware that the sixth season will be the last?
Producers of Downton Abbey have not confirmed that Season 6 will be the show’s swan song, but they also have not confirmed a seventh season. Downton Abbey‘s creator and lead writer Julian Fellows is slated to pen The Guilded Age, a 19th century drama, for NBC.
Expect the final word on whether or not the Crawley family and their servants will continue to provide their brand of drama and wit when Downton Abbey Season 6 premieres in the United Kingdom in September. Downton Abbey fans in the United States will have to wait until January, 2016, to get their upper crust fix.
