In Downton Abbey: A New Era, there are lots of major characters coming back to the idyllic location, but one glaring omission is Lady Mary’s second husband, Henry Talbot. Henry first appeared in Downton Abbey during the series 5 Christmas Special and then remained a main romantic figure for Mary. Following the death of her first husband, Matthew, giving Mary a romantic happy ending was something her fans wanted.
Me, on Team Edith? I just wanted her to be … okay. Also, I wanted Mary and Tom Branson, but that’s a fanfiction issue.
The main issue between Henry and Mary is that he is a race car driver, and Mary doesn’t want to be a car-crash widow again. Eventually, the two cannot resist their love for each other and tie the knot. In addition to Mary’s son with Matthew, the couple ends up having a daughter named Caroline. While Henry was present in the first Downton film, the character is very much absent in the second. He is brought up constantly, especially since Mary has the potential to have an illicit tryst with the director Jack Barber (Hugh Dancy), but resists despite the tepid temptation.
So where the hell is Henry for real?
Well, the simple answer is that Henry’s actor, the deliciously dapper Matthew Goode, has been booked and busy for quite some time. Post-Downton Abbey, he was in The Crown and, up until earlier this year, was a lead in the popular show A Discovery of Witches and was in three movies last year, including The King’s Man.
Due to COVID restrictions, especially with an older acting crew, it just might not have been possible to bring him in. In the official film guide, Downton creator Julian Fellowes says, “Everything was going swimmingly until a second wave of Covid hit the UK in December 2020, by which time we were into preproduction for the film, and from then all the way to April 2021, I was incredibly concerned about new Covid variants and borders closing. What should have been a fairly simple operation logistically—and as a successful film franchise we had the budget to go to the South of France—rapidly became a pretty dicey operation during which we constantly worried about whether or not we would make it to France.”
A little awkward to have Mary’s husband not be there for the death of her grandmother, but scheduling is going to schedule. Still, if both had been there, Mary would have even less to do, so it works. Did you miss Matthew Goode in the film? Or did you want Mary to run away with Hugh Dancy? There are no wrong answers.
(featured image: Focus Features)
Published: May 31, 2022 12:45 pm