Here's What The Cast Of "Downton Abbey" Has Been Up To Over The Last Few Years
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Downton Abbey ended in 2015, followed by a 2019 movie that had the cast returning to the screen.
Some of them recently returned to the silver screen in Downton Abbey: A New Era, but before that, they explored other roles — some more modern than others.
Downton Abbey / PBS / Via giphy.com
Michelle Dockery
The lovely Michelle Dockery stars as Lady Mary in Downton Abbey.
Over the last few years, she tried on a few different roles from the big screen to the small screen. Dockery starred alongside Chris Evans as Laurie Barber in the 2020 Apple TV+ miniseries Defending Jacob (pictured above). The crime drama, based on a novel of the same name, follows a family shaken when their 14-year old son is put on trial for the murder of another child. Dockery found herself on the other side of the courtroom for Netflix's Anatomy of a Scandal, where she portrayed prosecuting counsel Kate Woodcroft.
Dockery also got to do something lighter and return to royalty as the voice of Lady Olivia in Disney's Amphibia, an animated series that also features her Downton Abbey dad, Hugh Bonneville.
On the big screen, she played Rosalind Pearson in the action-comedy The Gentlemen, joining a star-studded cast that included Matthew McConaughey, Jeremy Strong, and Hugh Grant.
Laura Carmichael
Laura Carmichael portrays Lady Edith in Downton Abbey.
She got to take a break from the the regal garb in her role as Agatha Fyfle, the lead in The Secrets She Keeps, a crime drama series centered on two pregnant women from vastly different worlds who find they share an explosive secret and fight to hide the truth (pictured above). However, she was back in frilly dresses as Maggie Pole in the Starz historical drama series The Spanish Princess.
Elizabeth McGovern
Hugh Bonneville
Hugh Bonneville plays Robert Crawley, Earl of Grantham in Downton Abbey.
In the last few years, Bonneville took on a few different roles. He played Mr. Delacroix, a banker in Netflix's holiday movie Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey (pictured above). He also portrayed infamous children's author Roald Dahl in the 2021 film To Olivia (An Unquiet Life), which follows the life of Dahl and his wife Patricia Neal as they cope with the loss of their daughter.
On the small screen, Bonneville reprised his role as Ian Fletcher in the British mockumentary W1A for a special COVID episode in 2020. He also lent his voice to Disney's animated series Amphibia as Wigbert, a wealthy frog whose character slightly resembles Robert Crawley.
Phyllis Logan
Phyllis Logan was known as Mrs. Hughes in Downton Abbey.
Between the 2019 film and 2022's Downton Abbey: A New Era, Logan starred in a few films and TV shows.
She portrayed Evelyn Alexander in 2020's Misbehaviour, a British comedy-drama movie about a group of women who disrupt the 1970 Miss World Competition in London (pictured above). She also starred as Mary in 2021's The Last Bus, a film about an old man traveling across the country on local buses. Logan also appeared as Maggie in the Scottish thriller series Guilt, and voiced Mrs. Bird in a few episodes of the animated children's series The Adventures of Paddington.
Penelope Wilton
Penelope Wilton was beloved as Isobel in Downton Abbey.
Between 2019–22, Wilton tried on a few different roles that found her in a variety of settings. She played Anne, a widow full of sage advice in Netflix's After Life, a comedy-drama series starring and created by Ricky Gervais (pictured above).
Wilton also starred in a few films, including Eternal Beauty (2019), Summerland (2020), and Operation Mincemeat (2021).
Jim Carter
Jim Carter is known as Mr. Carson, the butler in Downton Abbey.
He got to take time away from his butler duties in between Downton Abbey films to play con artist Vincent in the 2019 crime thriller film The Good Liar (pictured above).
Joanne Froggatt
Joanne Froggatt is better known as Anna in Downton Abbey.
When she wasn't acting as the beloved maid and wife to Mr. Bates, she took on some major TV roles. She recently starred as Angela Black, the titular role of the limited thriller series of the same name (pictured above). She also stunned in the lead role of another drama thriller series, Liar, as schoolteacher Laura Nielson. She was also the star of sci-fi drama series The Commons, portraying neuropsychologist Eadie Boulay.
Robert James-Collier
Robert James-Collier plays the polarizing Thomas Barrow in Downton Abbey.
He got to play more modern roles in the years between Abbey films, appearing as Martin Evershed in the school-set comedy drama Ackley Bridge (pictured above). He also starred as Saul Silva in Fate: The Winx Saga, Netflix's live-action adaptation of the animated Nickelodeon series Winx Club (2004).
Lesley Nicol
Lesley Nicol plays house cook Ms. Patmore in Downton Abbey.
Her roles over the last few years were largely voice roles, but she did appear onscreen as Henrietta Beecham in the period drama Beecham House, which takes place in New Delhi around the same time as Downton Abbey takes place.
Nicols' recent voice acting roles include Ramona in the HBO Max/Cartoon Network animated series Summer Camp Island, Winsome Witch in the Hanna-Barbera cartoon-inspired HBO Max original Jellystone, and a few different voices in the Hulu reboot of Animaniacs.
Maggie Smith
Maggie Smith plays everyone's favorite Downton Abbey character, Violet.
In the time between the first Downton Abbey Film and A New Era, Smith portrayed Aunt Ruth in the Netflix original holiday movie, A Boy Called Christmas.
Kevin Doyle
Kevin Doyle portrays the lovable, bumbling footman Joseph Molesley in Downton Abbey.
In 2020, Doyle took on the role of Henry Scarlet in Miss Scarlet and the Duke, a period crime drama set in 1900s London, which is currently airing its second season (pictured above). He also returned to the long-running crime drama Silent Witness, taking on a new character, Governor Matt Blake. He even appeared in an episode of Netflix's The Witcher as Ba'lian.
Allen Leech
Allen Leech is known for his role as Tom Branson in Downton Abbey.
After appearing in the first Downton Abbey film in 2019, Branson starred in two movies before reprising his role as Tom in A New Era, including the original Hallmark romance As Luck Would Have It, where he played the male lead, Brennan O'Brien (pictured above). He also appeared alongside Sophia Bush in the TV movie Surveillance as Scott.
