So what can we expect after the loss of so many favorites, from the driving death of Matthew Crawley to the birthing death of Lady Sybil to the departure of Mrs. O'Brien? Julian Fellowes, the creator of the series, does not give away much in his recent interview with the Wall Street Journal, "The Real Lord of 'Downton Abbey'," but we do get some additional context to the program. For instance, regarding the hapless Lady Edith, Mr. Fellowes notes less than optimistically,
People come up to me all the time and say, "Please let Edith be happy!" I think I do believe there are people who are unbelievably lucky and there are people who are unlucky and they don't always deserve it, but somehow the first group always catches the bus. The second group always just misses it.
And where would the Crawleys' descendants be today? Mr. Fellowes has his own ideas,
Mary is a practical businesswoman. I think there were some families who just sold and sold and sold [land], and eventually it just caved in. But I feel that Mary wouldn't allow that to happen. My own belief is that they would survive, but they would be living in a back wing—and you could buy a ticket to visit and they would only come out in the winter.
It is also good to read that Mr. Fellowes is working on a second series to take place in the late 1800's New York City called The Gilded Age. Soon enough the State will have its own wealthy family to follow, and maybe we will get to see it before the Brits.
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