The grand finale is sort of right here… or quite, Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale. This capstone to the historic drama that’s been operating throughout small and large screens since 2010 premieres on the 2025 motion pictures schedule in lower than two weeks. One in every of The Grand Finale’s principal storylines revolves round Michelle Dockery’s Mary Crawley getting divorced from Matthew Goode’s Henry Talbot. We now know the explanation for the divorced due to a brand new Downton Abbey 3 clip, and I additionally like what Elizabeth McGovern, who performs Mary’s mom, Cora, stated about why she’s “glad” for this storyline.
Why Mary Crawley And Henry Talbot Received Divorced
The most recent Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale clip posted by Focus Options exhibits Mary reuniting with Dominic West’s Man Dexter, the Hollywood star who was launched in Downton Abbey: A New Period, and assembly Arty Froushan’s Noël Coward, the real-life playwright, actor, director, composer and a lot extra. When Coward inquires about why she and Henry Talbot are not collectively, she solutions:
We fought like cats. He wished to be kingpin, however I used to be the heiress, and he was simply the husband. He hated that.
So there you may have it. There was no infidelity from both occasion, the divorce merely boiled right down to Henry’s dissatisfaction along with his standing as Mary’s husband. So that they determined to go their separate methods, and it appears like Mary isn’t too damaged up about it. THat stated, I do marvel what the custody association is like with their daughter Caroline, who was born after the occasions of the Downton Abbey TV present.
Matthew Goode debuted as Henry as a visitor star in Downton Abbey’s fifth season, then was upgraded to collection common within the remaining season. Then, after cameoing within the first film, he was absent from A New Period, and Goode, who has most just lately been seen within the Netflix subscription-exclusive collection Dept. Q, confirmed in June he wouldn’t return for The Grand Finale. Whereas the divorce plot twist hadn’t been revealed to the general public but, the actor did say he thought Henry being gone might be a “actually constructive factor” for Mary.
Why Elizabeth McGovern Appreciates The Divorce Storyline
After all, with Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale being set in 1930, divorce was a a lot larger deal amongst British excessive society in comparison with these days. We even see in one of many trailers that Mary is requested to depart a elaborate ball as a result of at the moment, divorced folks couldn’t be within the presence of royals. Due to that, Elizabeth McGovern believes that this facet of The Grand Finale pierce helps pierce by means of a number of the romanticism that surrounds the franchise, sharing within the first episode of Downton Abbey: The Official Podcast:
In some methods, I am glad of this divorce story as a result of a number of the time with Downton, you take a look at it and suppose, “Oh, I want we have been again then.’ And all the things was so easy and other people have been extra well mannered, however you then’re reminded that really there are some issues that have been simply so restrictive.
Between how Mary’s divorce impacts her standing among the many different elites in the UK, in addition to the Crawley household going through monetary bother tied to Cora’s brother, Paul Giamatti’s Harold Levinson, there’s rather a lot for these characters to take care of on this remaining film. Whereas there was discuss doubtlessly having a Downton Abbey crossover with The Gilded Age by means of the late Violet Crawley, the time has come to shut the guide on this household as they enter the Nineteen Thirties. Mary’s divorce simply goes to indicate how the occasions are additional altering for them, and maybe that’s for the higher.
Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale opens in theaters on Friday, September 12. The unique TV collection and first two motion pictures can all be streamed with a Peacock subscription on the time of this writing.