Warning: SPOILERS for Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale are ahead!
The second Downton Abbey movie may have been called A New Era, but Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale’s release on the 2025 movies schedule finally made good on that promise. The end of the threequel saw Michelle Dockery’s Lady Mary Talbot officially taking over running the family estate, and as she stood in the main hall, she thought of memories that took place in that area of Downton involving deceased loved ones. Dockery has now revealed an alternate way The Grand Finale could have ended, but I also agree with her on why what we got in the final cut of the movie was better.
In an interview with THR, Michelle Dockery explained how “half the challenge” for her of shooting the last scene was “not crying and bursting into tears” as herself given Mary’s stoicism. The actress knew that Mary would be flashing back to these long-departed characters, and music even played over speakers to help her “really get into what that was going to feel [and] look like.” The actress continued:
But there were a couple of versions of the ending. There was another version where you saw Mary go back to work, she goes into the library and she sits at her desk. They decided to end it on the tribute to Maggie, which I think is the best ending. I always felt that it was the right way to finish. [Mary, Cora and Robert] are saying their goodbyes and I think that’s for the audience — this feeling of moving on and saying farewell to each other.
Following Mary taking control of Downton Abbey, her parents, Robert and Cora Grantham, decided to move into the house where the late Violet Crawley (Maggie Smith), the Dowager Countess of Grantham, lived in the final years of her life. While showing Mary at the desk certainly would have been an effective way to conclude to further exemplify the changing of the guard, Michelle Dockery is right that the main hall scene was the more emotional way to go. If you’re a fan of this franchise, then seeing that archive footage of Violet, Matthew (Dan Stevens) and Sybil (Jessica Brown Findlay) surely gave you at least a little bit of the feels.
Michelle Dockery went on to explain how Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale’s alternate ending might have given the wrong impression of where Mary finds herself now that she’s in charge of the estate. In her words:
But in reality, Mary’s not alone. She’s in the house with various other people, of course, all the staff. She’s got family members who are going to be coming and I think it looks forward to the future. It feels quite hopeful. I also like that at the end of this story, Mary ends up as a single woman. There’s a new chapter ahead of her, she’s happier, and she’s excited to take the reins and become the lady of the house. It’s the end, but it feels like it’s ongoing.
While both of the prior Downton Abbey movies seemed like they could have concluded the saga started by the TV show that ran from 2010 to 2015, we’ve finally reached the true endpoint. That’s not to say that the Downton estate couldn’t be revisited someday in a story taking place decades later, but as far as Mary and these other characters go, Dockery says that “this does feel quite finite” with where we leave them. In fact, as the credits on The Grand Finale roll, we get one last at the principal players living their happy lives, including Mary with her two children.
Catch the final chapter of the Downton Abbey saga in theaters now, and be sure to read CinemaBlend’s Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale review. The original TV series and the first two movies can all be streamed with a Peacock subscription.