As Downton Abbey concludes, Michelle Dockery is stepping into another life-changing role – motherhood.
The 43-year-old actress, who is expecting her first child, spoke about becoming a mom ahead of the release of Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale. “It certainly feels like a new chapter, in many ways, for all of us,” Dockery, who plays Lady Mary Crawley, told Today’s Jenna Bush Hager in a Sept. 9 interview. “And personally for myself, it’s a new chapter. I’m very excited.”
When Jenna remarked that it must be a special time to welcome a new baby, Dockery laughed, “Yes, into the Downton family!”
Dockery emphasized that the cast has become like a real family, maintaining close friendships even off set. “We’ve become this family and our friendship continues beyond Downton,” she said. “No one has experienced this bond that we have. It’s really, really special.”
Michelle Dockery’s pregnancy comes nearly two years after she married Jasper Waller-Bridge, 37, in a London church ceremony attended by friends and family, including his sister Phoebe Waller-Bridge.
The actress showcased her baby bump in a powder blue gown while attending the red carpet premiere of Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale in London on Sept. 3 alongside her husband.
The moment was particularly meaningful for Michelle, who plays a mother onscreen in Downton Abbey. However, she noted that her character’s approach to parenting is very different from her own.
“I love kids,” she told The Express in 2024, “but Mary’s not the most natural of mothers. That’s just not who she is or rather, that’s not how people were in those days.”
She elaborated, “Lady Mary is an aristocrat, so she doesn’t see her child for more than two hours a day that’s not the sort of cuddly, cooey relationship I would have with a baby.”
Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale is set for release Sept. 12. But before you sit down to watch, read on for 15 secrets about the show…
1.The concept for Downton Abbey was partly inspired by creator Julian Fellowes’ own upbringing as the son of a diplomat. Speaking to Closer, he explained, “My mother hadn’t been presented; she wasn’t a [debutante]. My great aunts thought she had ‘caught’ [my father] and they never changed. They eventually tolerated her because she had given birth to four healthy sons, so she had done her dynastic duty.”
2.As an interesting fact, Julian Fellowes is actually a Baron and a member of the House of Lords.
3. “We pretty much got all our first choices for every part,” casting director Jill Trevellick admitted to Backstage, confirming Maggie Smith, Hugh Bonneville, Michelle Dockery and Dan Stevens were all “frontrunners” for their respective characters.
4.Casting the role of valet John Bates proved to be the most challenging, with Brendan Coyle eventually landing the part after more than 60 actors were considered. The studio initially hesitated, not because of Coyle’s talent, but due to concerns that his previous period drama work might compete with another broadcast.
“We thought of Brendan very early on,” explained Trevellick. “Julian [Fellowes] practically wrote the part with him in mind after seeing him in North and South. We saw him early, but there were some reservations at the broadcast end. Ultimately, I think we just wore them down.”
Six weeks later, Coyle was officially offered the role.
5. Downton‘s first OMG moment came when Matthew Crawley, the series’ dashing male lead, was killed in the season three finale. “There were a lot of very upset people demanding apologies,” Stevens told Entertainment Weekly of his decision to exit the show at the end of his three-year contract.
As for why he was ready to say goodbye to Downton, he explained, “Doing a long-running TV thing was amazing on all sorts of levels. But at the moment, it’s about seeing how I can keep myself challenged and entertained.”
6. In an interview with, Fellowes stressed it was Steven’s choice to leave (and not return for an appearance in season four) that lead to the character’s sudden demise.
Noting that in America, contracts tend to be longer, “it seemed to them that the production team had just decided you know,” he continued as he made a throat-slitting motion. “But in fact, he had just gotten to the end of his three-year contract and he wanted to go on and do different stuff…We just had to make it work. Some of the letters I got made your hair stand on ends!”
7. But Matthew’s devastating death didn’t keep away viewers as the season four premiere shattered ratings records, attracting 10.2 million viewers.
8. If Stevens had notified Fellowes sooner of his intention to leave the series, he said he would’ve staged fan-favorite Lady Sybil’s exit differently: “I probably would have killed them together in a car crash.”
9. Highclere Castle was the location for Downton Abbey, with the 17th century estate becoming one of the most popular tourist destinations in the U.K. The countryside oasis even became available to rent on Airbnb, with two fans spending a night in the 100,000 square-foot castle ahead of the series’ motion picture premiere in September 2019.
10. But those renters may have had to deal with a ghost as the show’s historical consultant detailed the popular paranormal rumor in an interview with Travel + Leisure.
“I remember my cousin [Jean Margaret Herbert, Countess of Carnarvon] being ashen white when I told her what the opening sequence of the show would be,” Alastair Bruce explained. “Daisy gets up, gets the whole house going and they clean before the Earl of Grantham comes downstairs.
Mrs. Hughes is going around and the camera focuses in on the chain around her waist carrying all the keys, and Jean she’s the Dowager Countess of Carnarvon she went white because there is a ghost at the house who is a former housekeeper, and you know she’s around because you can hear the keys jangling at the end of her chain.”
11. Laura Carmichael, who became famous for her role as Lady Edith Crawley, almost didn’t attend her Downton Abbey audition. While touring with a production of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, she told Tribune News Service, “I thought it was going to be a ‘Yes, milord,’ a half-day’s filming, one line maybe. But it would be good to have on your CV that you’d done telly. And I thought, ‘I’m going to have to turn down this dream Shakespeare for this TV job. What a disaster!’”
12. In 2012, Gillian Anderson revealed that she had turned down the role of Cora Crawley, which ultimately went to Elizabeth McGovern, the American heiress-turned-Countess of Grantham.
13. The series also drew attention from the British royal family. Vanity Fair reported that Queen Elizabeth II was a fan and would fact-check the show for fun. Prince William admitted to watching as well, with actor Allan Leech recalling on Watch What Happens Live in 2013: “I shook his hand and he actually said, ‘I’m a big fan of the show, only now that my wife’s had a baby.’
Obviously he’s got a lot of downtime, so [Kate Middleton]’s got him watching this. ‘You’re going to watch it with me!’”
14. Dame Maggie Smith, who played Dowager Countess Violet Crawley, revealed that she has never watched the series. She told The Telegraph, “I will look at it when it’s all over, maybe, because it’s frustrating. I always see things that I would like to do differently, and think ‘why in the name of God did I do that?’”
15. As a period drama, the female cast often had to wear corsets under their costumes, which caused “real problems,” according to chief costume designer Susannah Buxton. She told, “It’s a nightmare for those poor things. They were very, very uncomfortable. You have to learn to wear them, and of course the girls are not used to it. They were so tight cast members couldn’t even eat in them.”