"Downton Abbey" has grown to be a massive success in a way that most period pieces are not. Its list of accolades is endless: "Downton Abbey" holds the Guiness World Record for the most critically acclaimed show of 2011; it's the most-watched series in PBS history, and has the most Emmys of any international television series in history. It's also the most popular period drama, ever, since "Brideshead Revisited" in 1981.
In short, "Downton Abbey" is huge.
Recently, Harper's Bazaar held an interview with the actresses of "Downton Abbey," and discovered a few new pieces of information about the series' upcoming fifth season.
Most notable was Michelle Dockery, who plays Lady Mary, the daughter of house patriarch Robert Crawley. Dockery opened up about where Lady Mary will be headed this season, and how the death of her husband Matthew Crawley will affect her character's story arc.
"She's still got a complicated side to her, which makes her more interesting. Now she's a mother, and she's lost her husband, and she's really been through the mill. Now she's at a point where she's got to make decisions again about who will be the next husband and she's enjoying that, and enjoying her independence. I love her attitude. She gets up and gets on with it and moves on."
In the interview, all the female cast members were quick to compliment series creator Julian Fellows, and his ability to write compelling female characters.
Dockery adds: "We're all very lucky that we're playing roles that are very complex, not just two-dimensional and predictable."
While Fellows later explained his reasons for making women the center of "Downton Abbey," and not men: "Women grow up and men never do. There is always, in men, this kind of boy in the middle of him who must be nurtured and protected by the women in his life, and they must always make him feel that he is very talented or misunderstood or whatever."
Clearly, Fellows knows what he's talking about, given the series colossal success.
The show's fifth season was confirmed last November, and is expected to premiere sometime this fall.
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