Keck's Exclusives: A New Downton Abbey Romance?
Allen Leech
With Downton Abbey killing off two of my favorite characters — Lady Sybil and Matthew Crawley — is it possible their surviving spouses could find love with one another? — Emma, New Orleans
Michelle Dockery (Lady Mary) and Allen Leech (Tom Branson) — who are already a few episodes into shooting Season 4 — expressed horror at the mere suggestion of such a coupling. "Oooh, I can't do that," Dockery says of her character. "He's my brother-in-law!"
Leech agrees. "While it would be great for drama, I don't think it would be right for those two," he says. "As much as they respect each other, they come from very different worlds."
But the two will bond over their mutual situation as single parents. "We will be spending so much more time together, from what we've already seen in the early episodes," Dockery says. "We're delighted by that. It's going to take them both some time before they find someone new."
Those new people are already on their way. British actor Tom Cullen has been cast as Lord Gillingham, who will be a love interest for Mary, and Leech hints that there may be some canoodling in the nursery between Tom and Downton's new nanny.
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