Downton Abbey, was created and co-written by Julian Fellowes, set in the 20th century. The story revolves around the ‘Crawley family’ and their house-helps, and depicts how the lives of the fictional family are affected by real incidents that happened between 1912 and 1926. From the sinking of the Titanic to wars, political scandals and the rise of the working class at the end, the aristocratic ‘Crawleys’ have gone through it all. As the franchise comes to an end with a last final film, Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale, here’s how the story ends for the family.
Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale picks up from where the sequel ended, with ‘Lady Mary Crawley’s divorce
The film is set two years after the sequel, Downton Abbey: A New Era‘s ended. Most of the film revolves around the scandal faced by ‘Lady Mary’ following her divorce from her husband, ‘Henry Talbot’. As her father, the ‘Earl of Grantham’ is all set to hand over the control of the estate, questions also arise if ‘Lady Mary’ should take over. The film also seems to introduce a new love interest for her, an American businessman, ‘Gus Sambrook’. However, after spending a night with him, ‘Lady Mary’ discovers that he is a con artist and ‘Gus’ is driven away from the estate.
At the end, ‘Mary’ realises that though she is being scrutinised by the outsiders, she has support from the ‘Downton Abbey’ staff and also from her community. As a result, ‘Robert Crawley’ hands over the reins to his daughter, ‘Mary’, who takes charge as the head of the estate and also as a single mother. However, the most anticipated and emotional scene of the franchise was the reconciliation between the two sisters, ‘Mary’ and ‘Edith’, after years. Michelle Dockery, who plays ‘Mary’, talked about this particular scene and said:
“I mean, our ending, you know, when we did our last moment together, yeah, and the characters are actually leaving one another. So we were sort of holding it back and our goodbye, I felt that was quite a tough one. So there are definitely those moments, actually, where the characters were also saying goodbye, were quite hard to play.”
‘Downton Abbey’ franchise’s last emotional scene
In the emotional ending of the film, ‘Mary’ looks around her home, the ‘Downton Abbey’ and gets a glimpse of the Servant’s Ball. She imagines her family members dancing with the staff in joy. This vision even includes characters that have passed away in the show, which makes the scene even more emotional. ‘Mary’ sees herself dancing with the love of her life, whose life was tragically cut short, ‘Matthew Crawley’. She also sees her late younger sister, ‘Sibyl’, and grandmother ‘, Violet Crawley, the Dowager Countess of Grantham’. As the film ends with ‘Mary’ walking away, the camera lingers on the portrait of the ‘Dowager Countess’.
What happens to the other members of the ‘Crawley family’ and their staff at ‘Downton Abbey’?
The franchise ends in a much-needed happy ending for everyone. ‘Lady Edith’ is happily married to ‘Herbert Pelham’. The ‘Earl’ and ‘Countess of Grantham’, have taken a back seat and let ‘Mary’ run the estate. After serving the ‘Crawleys’ for fifty years, ‘Charles Carson’ finally retires, while his wife remains a housekeeper of the abbey. ‘Beryl Patmore’ also retires and hands over the reins of the kitchen to ‘Daisy’. Meanwhile, ‘Andy Parker’ becomes the full-time butler of ‘Downton Abbey’.
What are your thoughts on the ending of the Downton Abbey franchise? Let us know.
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