Dan Stevens Has Lost About 30 Pounds Since Leaving ‘Downton Abbey’

Dan Stevens looks nothing like what he looked like now while he was playing Matthew Crawley in Downton Abbey. Actually people were saying he was a bit overweight during season one.

Fast forward three years and now we find Dan significantly slimmed down and with different hair color. His character in the period drama was blonde, but before that, the actor had natural dark hair.

Many fans are crying foul over both changes, but Dan explained, “I’ve lost about 30 lbs. since New Year, which, in British terms, is about two to three chins. It was for a role,” the actor said during the Graham Norton show this weekend. “It’s always me, just different incarnations, different roles, different costumes and different sizes.”

It makes sense, actors are always transforming themselves with different looks for roles they are taking on. It should be no surprise that he is looking different for upcoming projects.

“As for the hair, it’s pretty much my natural color. I went very dark for the last role but I’ll see where I go with it.” So there you have it ladies, stop fretting.

Dan also talked about, what else, Downton and his character being killed off. He said that he wasn’t overly happy with the way things ended for Matthew Crawley, but unfortunately that was not something he could control. It all went back to writer of the show, Julian Fellowes.

Fellowes decided to kill off Crawley during the airing of the last episode of season three in the UK, called the Christmas Special, on Christmas day. Needless to say that didn’t go well with fans of the drama. Many blamed Dan for leaving in such fashion and he has since apologized as reported by The Inquisitr late last week.

“Of course it was my decision, a very difficult one too, but it felt like the right thing to do. It was good to trust my instincts and go with it. I knew Matthew would die, but not like that necessarily.”

To emphasize his point Dan told Radio Times, “I think what emerged is that it’s an unwritten rule that you’re not supposed to die on British television on Christmas Day, and that, specifically, was not my doing,. I didn’t have any say in the manner in which he went. Ultimately, it was in the hands of Julian [Fellowes] and the producers.”

Dan Stevens is currently residing in the US and poised to make his Hollywood entrance. What do you think of Dan’s new look?

[Image via http://www.entertainmentwise.com/news/117181/Downton-Abbey-Star-Dan-Stevens-Has-Shed-Over-Two-Stone-Since-Leaving-The-ITV-Drama]