'Downton Abbey' Season 5: Lady Mary Is Ready to 'Embrace Change'
TV

Michelle Dockery says Mary is 'leaning toward' one of her suitors, but 'the forging of a second marriage is a complicated business.'

AceShowbiz - Expect to see Lady Mary taking a major leap on "Downton Abbey" season 5. After two years of mourning her late husband Matthew Crawley, she is ready to "embrace her life and embrace change," Michelle Dockery tells TnoV Guide. "She's got her spirit back."

The actress additionally tells USA Today, "She gets a bit feistier again and that's kind of telling with her and Edith, because she becomes quite mean to Edith again. Which Laura (Carmichael) and I love doing far more than being nice to one another."

Though her days will seemingly be more cheerful, there's still a long way before she walks down the aisle again. "I don't think for the story or for the audience it would have been a good idea for Mary to settle down again too quickly," says Dockery. "Even though for someone like her it's ideal that she marries again, because of the position she's in, and the fact that she has the heir to Downton and she needs to find a husband and a father for George."

Executive producer Gareth Neame chimes in, "The forging of a second marriage is a complicated business." Dockery, however, reveals that Mary is "leaning toward one of [her suitors, [Tom Cullen's Tony Gillingham and Julian Ovenden's Charles Blake], but both are handsome, eligible men."

As for her sister Edith who keeps a big secret, giving birth to a baby girl and giving her up for adoption, "the whole experience has made her more compassionate," says actress Laura Carmichael. She adds that the tragedy of Sybil dying inspired her character to be more like her sister, "to be bolder and not care so much [and] evolve into a slightly more likable character and to not just be defined as 'not being Mary.' "

Carmichael thinks that there's a chance for another love for Edith. "I think that must be [coming], who knows? I don't dare say it out loud in case [series creator Julian Fellowes] changes his mind," she says with laughs. "I hope so. But I also loved that it's pushed her in a different direction and I always want her to keep working, now that she's become a working woman. But yeah, I hope that it will end in love for her that lasts just a little bit longer."

On how the society changes in this coming season, Dockery explains, "There's a huge change in friction, people's attitudes towards things. And of course there are characters that embrace those changes and some that don't. Carson, for example, is always reluctant to see the changes come in. But Mary kind of crawls with it. She's quite accepting of what's going on and actually quite excited by it."

Fellowes gushes about how this change may affect the Crawleys, "From a historical perspective, Downton's future is far from certain. The 1920s are the first wave of the great families and their great houses going under. Mary is more a creature of the modern world."

Of her future on the show, Dockery says she intends to stay on the period drama until the end. "I love playing Mary, and I love being part of a show that for all of us has been really special," she says. "None of us ever imagined how huge a success it would become. Why would I want to leave that?"

"Downton Abbey" season 5, which aired in the U.K. late last year, will premiere Stateside Sunday, January 4 at 9/8c on PBS.

Follow AceShowbiz.com @ Google News

You can share this post!

You might also like
Related Posts