How 'Downton Abbey' has changed – and how it hasn't – as beloved TV drama jumps to big screen
Bill KeveneySpoiler alert! This story contains significant plot points from the new "Downton Abbey" movie. Stop reading if you haven't seen it and don't want to know.
When "Downton Abbey" ended its six-season run on PBS in March 2016, tart-tongued Dowager Countess Violet Crawley (Maggie Smith) struck against changing times, wishing she could remain in the past.
Well, "Downton" fans have the chance to return to the past and reconnect with the noble Crawley family and the sturdy staff of its English countryside estate in the big-screen edition of the beloved period piece (in theaters Friday).
As the series ended, viewers said goodbye to the familiar characters at New Year's 1926, when Lady Edith Crawley (Laura Carmichael) married up; her sister, Lady Mary (Michelle Dockery), learned she was pregnant; Mary's maid, Anna (Joanne Froggatt), and her husband, Mr. Bates (Brendan Coyle), became parents; and ailing butler Mr. Carson (Jim Carter) retired.
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The film opens in 1927, and much remains the same at Downton (though Lady Mary has had her baby), a likely source of comfort for fans who, like Violet, wish to nestle in Downton's past.
Robert Crawley (Hugh Bonneville), Earl of Grantham, receives a letter announcing an impending royal visit, much happier news than he received in the series premiere set in 1912: the sinking of the Titanic. Modernity, evolving family relationships and a stopover by King George V (Queen Elizabeth II's grandfather) and Queen Mary reveal that life doesn't stand still.
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Here's a look at how "Downton Abbey" remains the same and where it offers mild concessions to change.
Arriving at Downton Abbey
What's familiar: The movie's opening scene, which features a train chugging toward the countryside community of the Crawley estate, wonderfully mirrors another train ride that introduced the TV show's very first episode. Gorgeous views of Downton Abbey (England's Highclere Castle), accompanied by the TV show's instantly identifiable theme music, immediately transport viewers back to 1920s Britain.
The twists: The earlier train carried Mr. Bates, then the new valet serving the Earl of Grantham. The film version carries a mysterious major who appears to be investigating the Irish Republican tendencies of Tom Branson (Allen Leech) but really has designs on killing the king.
Lady Mary, who had managed the estate with brother-in-law Tom, is running Downton solo and considering selling the castle and moving to a manor home. (Relax, fans. She doesn't.)
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Violet's verbal reign
What’s familiar: To every "Downton" fan's delight, Violet maintains her assassin's skill in delivering devastating one-liners. The cutting countess gets a huge helping of withering asides.
The twist: Violet's mind is as sharp as ever, but her body is failing. She reveals her impending demise to granddaughter Mary, who is so much like her. In a scene that Violet somehow makes both witty and touching, she says she considers Mary her heir: In the future, "you'll be the frightening old lady (of Downton). You're the best of me that will live on."
In another surprise, there will be a new arrival as Violet nears her departure, as Edith tells her husband she's pregnant.
The return of Mr. Carson
What's familiar: Carson's back! The proud butler, married to housekeeper Mrs. Hughes (Phyllis Logan), had gone into involuntary retirement after developing palsy. Mary, worried that Carson's successor, Barrow (Robert James-Collier), isn't up to handling the royal visit, brings Carson back.
The twist: Carson, dedicated to decorum, initially objects to the staff's planned insurrection against the haughty royal servants who seek to brush aside Downton's downstairs dwellers. The Downton staff gets its way, winning the chance to serve the king and queen, and Carson is a pleased beneficiary of his subordinates' creative treachery.
Barrow gets his own storyline
What's familiar: Barrow remains the butler at Downton, having replaced Carson, but he remains somewhat apart, partly because he's gay.
The twist: Barrow loses his job, at least temporarily, when Lady Mary reinstates Carson. With time on his hands, the younger butler befriends another gay man, the king's valet, and is introduced to Yorkshire's hidden nightlife, visiting a boisterous warehouse filled with jazz music and partying men.
After police raid the place, Barrow is saved from disgrace by his royal connection. The men share a kiss and the hope, however far in the future, of a chance to live a more open, happier life.
Not to the manor born
What's familiar: Tom remains Downton's inside-outsider, an Irishman, former chauffeur and husband of Crawley daughter Sybil, who died in childbirth. He partners with Mary's husband, Henry Talbot (Matthew Goode), in a fledgling auto dealership and remains loyal to the Crawleys, even if he bridles under the crown.
The twist: There's a new inside-outsider, Lucy Smith (Tuppence Middleton), the maid to wealthy Maud Bagshaw (Imelda Staunton), the queen's lady-in-waiting and a Crawley relative. Violet rages when she learns Lady Bagshaw plans to make Lucy her heir, rather than will her fortune to Violet's son, Robert.
In the biggest "Downton" surprise, Violet learns that Lucy is Lady Bagshaw's out-of-wedlock daughter. She sees a budding romance between Lucy and Tom that could bring the Bagshaw fortune into the Downton estate. Plotting Violet? Now that's familiar.
Downton endures
What's familiar: As Carson and Mrs. Hughes leave the estate after the staff admirably handles the royal visit, all is well. Comfortingly, there's a feeling that Downton and the Crawleys will be there far into the future.
The twist: Well, "Downton Abbey" and the Crawleys are here roughly a century later, but they're fictional characters, and the real-life castle is known primarily as a TV and film set that does a heavy tourism business. That doesn't matter. We'll always have the "Downton" denizens in our hearts and on our screens.
