Now that the trailer for Downton Abbey’s final season is out and airdates have been announced on both sides of the pond, the end of the series is starting to feel really real. Sure, we all knew the end was nigh and all that, but on some level many of us Downton fans sort of were operating as though the finale was never actually going to happen.
Some people – yours truly included – may now be finding themselves emotionally compromised or aggressively nostalgic over the thought of the show coming to a close. (Please take a wild guess at how loudly I shrieked when I saw this picture of Michelle Dockery and Dan Stevens together at a BAFTA event.) It’s like the stages of grief, basically.
But the end is happening, and it’s almost here. We’ve got about nine hours left to spend with the Crawley Clan and their various friends, servants and associates, so, here’s hoping that the show makes them count.
However, just because I am something of an emotional wreck about this situation does not mean that I don’t have a firm list of demands, hopes and general thoughts about things the show needs to make sure to deal with before we leave Highclere behind forever. And obviously we all need to talk about them.