Saturday, March 2, 2013

Downton casting news (confirmed!)


I woke up this morning to discover a slew of Downton-related casting news! Without further ado, here's the scoop on the new characters that will be visiting the Crawleys in the show's upcoming fourth season:

Tom Cullen as Lord Gillingham, an old family friend of the Crawleys who visits the family as a guest for a house party - no idea who this guy is, but he's cute! :)

Nigel Harman as Green, a valet - apparently he was in a 2010 Marple? I need to re-watch that.

Dame Harriet Walter as Lady Shackleton, an old friend of the Dowager - perhaps most familiar as Fanny Ferrars Dashwood in the 1995 Sense and Sensibility, Walter has also appeared in period dramas ranging from Marple to Little Dorrit.

Joanne David in a guest role as the Duchess of Yeovil - perhaps they mean Joanna David, as the IMDB doesn't list a Joanne. If that's the case, this David is a period drama vet (Bleak House, Foyle's War).

Julian Ovenden as aristocrat Charles Blake - HOLLA ANDREW FOYLE! And that's all I have to say to that.

Dame Kiri Te Kanawa as a guest who sings in the house - famous singers at house parties seem to happen quite frequently in Christie novels, it's about time one came to Downton. :)

The article also confirms the return of Shirley MacLaine as Martha Levinson for the Season 4 finale. I couldn't be more thrilled about that as I loved Martha! 

Also, apparently O'Brien is OUT...this is kind of a shocker, but I really shouldn't be surprised given her storyline in the Christmas episode. My bet is that we discover she took the position of ladies' maid for Lady Susan.

Thoughts?

5 comments:

Anne Mateer said...

I wondered it they were setting up O'Brien to leave with Lady Susan. FIne with me!

Others look interesting. I especially love Dame Harriet Walter. She was so politely wicket as Fanny Dashwood!

Unknown said...

@Anne - Yeah, she can go wilt in the India heat. ;)

I'm really excited about Harriet Walter & Julian Ovenden's appearances!

Rissi said...

This is AWESOME, Ruth! Thanks for the information and keeping us all so informed.

Hello, Andrew Foyle. Good-bye (and good riddance!) O'Brien. ;)

Traxy said...

O'Brien is OUT?! :O

Well ... then ... Don't let the door hit you on the way out!

And finally, HAH! Good news!

Unknown said...

@Rissi - LOL you're welcome! I try to to stay on top of the news! :)

@Traxy - I know, right? I will kinda miss hating on her, though...that was fun. :)