Content Warning: This article contains references to sexual assault and violence
Downton Abbey: A New Era, the new movie from Julian Fellowes, takes the various characters from this beloved franchise into new directions, as they encounter both the legacy of the past and the challenges and excitement of the future. In particular, it shows how the various characters--particularly Lady Mary and the Dowager Lady Grantham--each have their own part to play in reconciling these two time periods.
The new movie features many of the familiar faces that long-time fans have already become familiar with, with men and women who help to bring both the upstairs and the downstairs part of the estate to life. While they have become globally recognizable for their roles in Downton Abbey, they have also been in a number of other movies and TV shows, all of which showcase their considerable talents.
Hugh Bonneville – Paddington (2014)
Available To Stream On Netflix
Hugh Bonneville continues to astound in his role as Lord Grantham. He manages to bring just the right amount of upper-class stubbornness and genuine warmth to the role, and in many ways he is the very embodiment of Downton and all that it stands for.
While he is most famous for this role, he has also made a number of other notable appearances, including in the lovable movie Paddington, in which he plays the character of Henry Brown. Brown, like Lord Grantham, is someone who cares deeply about his family, even if he is at times somewhat conservative. The skill of Bonneville's performance is such that he allows the viewer to find him both lovable and exasperating at the same time.
Michelle Dockery – Anatomy Of A Scandal (2022)
Available To Stream On Netflix
Lady Mary is one of the best characters on Downton, and her success as a character is largely due to Michelle Dockery’s performance. She manages to capture both Mary’s vulnerability and her icy hauteur in equal measure.
Though Downton is certainly her most high-profile project, she is also notable for appearing in the Netflix series Anatomy of a Scandal, in which she plays a lawyer tasked with prosecuting a Member of Parliament for rape. Her character is also seen has to hide certain secrets of her own. In Dockery's capable hands, Kate Woodcroft emerges as a strong, capable woman, someone determined to see justice done, even at the expense of her own career.
Maggie Smith – Harry Potter And The Sorcerer’s Stone (2001)
Available To Stream On HBO Max
Maggie Smith is one of the most venerable actors of her generation, and her character, Violet Crawley, has been in many of Downton's best episodes. She has had a very robust career on both stage and screen. Arguably her most high-profile role outside of Downton, however, was as Professor Minerva McGonagall in the Harry Potter franchise.
As is the case with Violet Crawley, Professor McGonagall seems, on the outside, to be very stiff and, at times, unfriendly, but she truly does care deeply for the students entrusted to her care. She proves time and again that she will do anything to protect them. As is so often the case with Maggie Smith, she brings a crispness to her delivery that allows the viewer to appreciate that McGonagall isn't someone to suffer fools lightly. At the same time, there is also just a trace of softness to her, as well, which shows how invested she is in both Hogwarts and its students.
Penelope Wilton – Shaun Of The Dead (2004)
Available To Buy On Amazon Prime Video
Though the Dowager is one of the most formidable characters in Downton, she is often matched by Isobel, the mother of the future heir. Penelope Wilton endows this character with a rich complexity, for while she loves her son dearly, she also wants to pull Downton and its residents into the modern era.
Like the other members of the cast, Wilton has been in a wide variety of roles, but she is especially well-known for her appearance in the movie Shaun of the Dead, where she plays the mother of the title character, Barbara. Though she is one of the movie's secondary characters, Wilton's performance imbues her with a warmth and a kindness that is similar to that she shows as Isobel.
Lauren Carmichael – The Spanish Princess (2019-2020)
Available To Stream On Starz Amazon Prime Channel
Lady Edith is, in some ways, the saddest member of the Crawley family, as her life has been repeatedly touched by tragedies of one sort or another. This is why the audience couldn't help but see the parallels between Lauren Carmichael's character in Downton and that of Margaret Pole in the hit Starz costume drama The Spanish Princess.
As with Edith, Margaret is someone whose life has been damaged by the actions of others, though she frequently proves that she is far more cunning than many assume. The brilliance of Carmichael's performance lies in her ability to draw out the many complexities of this fascinating character. She is someone who has endured unspeakable tragedy but, like Edith in Downton, she is determined to seize life on her own terms and to make her own future.
Allen Leech – Bohemian Rhapsody (2018)
Available To Buy On Amazon Video
Allen Leech stole many hearts as Tom Branson, the chauffeur who ultimately married Lady Sybil (arguably one of the most likable characters in the entire series). However, while he is very charming as Branson, he showed a more sinister side in his appearance in Bohemian Rhapsody.
In that musical biopic, he played the character of Paul Prenter, who becomes Freddie Mercury’s lover and manager but proves to be a manipulative and malevolent influence on his life. Unlike Tom, who is a very likable (if brash) personality, Prenter is a manipulative and scheming person. It's to Leech's credit that he is able to create such a sinister character and do so in such a convincing way.
Samantha Bond – Die Another Day (2002)
Available To Buy On Amazon Video
Samantha Bond, like many of the other cast members of Downton, has had a very successful career on both the screen and stage. In Downton, she has appeared a number of times as the Lady Rosamund, who is the sister of Robert and daughter of Violet. Like her brother and mother, she is very committed to the fortunes of the family.
She is no doubt familiar to many viewers for her appearance as Miss Moneypenny in several of the more recent installments of the James Bond franchise, including Die Another Day. Bond's performance in the character is especially notable for the way that she endows the character with a feisty demeanor, turning her into someone more than capable of keeping up with Bond's own irascible nature.
Robert James-Collier – Coronation Street (2006-2008)
Available To Buy On Amazon Video
Thomas is another of the excellent characters who have emerged from Downton Abbey. As a gay man living in an age in which homophobia was rampant, he has often turned to villainy to deal with his feelings. However, James-Collier’s performance is such that Thomas is always more than just a villain; instead, he becomes something of an antihero.
Before appearing on Downton, he was well-known for playing the character of Liam Connor on Coronation Street. Unlike Thomas, who can be very brittle, spiteful, and unlikable, Liam shows a different side to James-Collier's acting style. He is, in fact, quite likable and charming. It's worth noting, however, that the actor does bring some shades of this characterization to Thomas, particularly in his later appearances.
Sophie McShera – Cinderella (2015)
Available To Stream On Starz Play Amazon Channel
Of all of the members of the downstairs, Daisy is arguably one of the most lovable. A great deal of this stems from McShera’s performance, and she endows her character with a naivete and innocence that is very charming. She was a very different sort of character in the 2015 live-action remake of Cinderella (arguably one of the better of Disney’s newer efforts).
There, she played one of Cinderella’s stepsisters, demonstrating her versatility as an actor. Unlike Daisy, who is kind and generous and innocent (almost to a fault), Drizella is petulant and cruel. In less capable hands, she would have been little more than a stereotype, but McShera allows the viewer to get just a hint that there might be something more complex going on beneath the surface.
Brendan Coyle – Mary Queen Of Scots (2018)
Available To Stream On Amazon Video
Brendan Coyle’s Bates is one of Downton’s heroes, a man who suffers a great deal but always shows much fortitude he possesses. Coyle imbues his character with a stoic demeanor that has long made him one of the favorites in the fandom.
However, he has played different sorts of characters in other dramas, including in the movie Mary Queen of Scots, where he plays the Earl of Lennox (the father of Mary’s husband and one of those who scheme against her rule). In the role, Coyle proves just how versatile he is as a performer. While Bates is someone with a true nobility of spirit, Lennox is quite different: brutal and blunt, even to his own son. He's the type of man who will sacrifice everything on the altar of ambition, and Coyle allows the viewer to appreciate this, even as they also condemn it.