Why matthew crawley was killed off

Dan Stevens and creator Julian Fellowes had other ideas for Downton Abbey; where they both could win and the legacy of the series would continue.

Together, they made Matthew Crawley's departure both memorable and tragic. But, there was a different force guiding Dan Stevens; a new beginning. The potential for career stultification and a gut feeling, had him balk at signing on for Season 4 of Downton Abbey, with the rest of the cast.

At the end of the day, audiences loved the "will they, or won't they" aspect to Lady Mary and Crawley's relationship. To finally settle down, meant to both Dan Stevens and series creator, Julian Fellowes; boredom. Stevens knew that the storyline was limited, once Matthew Crawley netted Lady Mary - there was nowhere for the story to go.

With that foresight in mind, Dan Stevens said goodbye to Matthew Crawley and moved on, literally and figuratively. Due to contractual obligations, he saw out his commitment to Downton Abbey and completed Season 3, knowing full well his character was doomed to a grisly death. However, behind the scenes, with his wife and children in tow, Dan Stevens made plans to relocate to Brooklyn, New York and play the lead on Broadway in, "The Heiress," opposite Oscar-winner, Jessica Chastain and beyond that, an unknown future.

Quite right, Violet. Downton pic. When Dan Stevens left Downton Abbey, his departure caused an such an uproar with the fans; the series creator Julian Fellowes and cast members were inundated by fans and press demanding answers. In retrospect, Matthew Crawley's death by milk truck is one of the more memorable moments on the 6 season run of the show, but at the time, actor Dan Stevens probably felt he was run out of the U. Instead, Fellowes killed off the war hero Matthew Crawley, with no apology.

Crawley's death shocked audiences when the episode aired on Christmas Day and the actor's decision to pursue a different career path in the USA, sans the war hero, upset fans and industry folk in the U. It's all water under the bridge now, but at the time, it was seen by most as a huge career risk. Daring to be different paid off for Dan Stevens. In relocating to the USA, Stevens slayed the ghost of Downton Abbey past and laid to rest the character he played for 3 seasons.

Chaulk it up for a win - Dan Stevens: 1 and Michael Crawley: 0. There's forever a place in our hearts for Mary and Matthew. Ok, you have to admit, Matthew Crawley's departure was one of the most creative ways to die. Death by milk-truck. And it was a gruesome and a fitting end to a war hero.

Heroes as mythic and honorable as Matthew Crawley, need to be martyred. No other option would be feasible for a character so stalwart and honest. Crawley was so steadfast and true. He was too honest. Killing him, tied up any loose ends and guaranteed him a noble place in the mythos of Downton Abbey, as a tragic hero. Anything less, wouldn't have been believable. No apology necessary, when you think about it.

The oldest writing trick in the book is to kill off a main character in a cliffhanger at the end of a season. It's writing and writers in the United States and the United Kingdom have been employing this plot device for years. It is a writing method used especially when a show's ratings start to drop; thus, killing off a beloved character, guarantees a spike in the show's ratings and the social relevancy furthers the brand.

The job of the writer is to create an emotional response in the viewer, for a payoff at a later time. Having an emotional marker, or inflicting a psychic scar in the form of mnemonic device, sets up the audience so that they want to tune in and find out what happened and how it affects the series narrative, character arcs and plot lines, going forward.

It's quite brilliant. The shock value boosts TV ratings and often guarantees a return of the loyal audience, eager to see how the emotional pieces are picked up. It's a method that was used multiple times on Downton Abbey. There was a lot of criticism of how the writer and creator of Downton Abbey, Julian Fellowes, handled the abrupt death-as-a-cliffhanger approach to his storytelling; mainly because he did it repeatedly throughout the 6 season run of the award-winning series.

In Fellowes defense, killing off Michael Crawley's character had to be brutal; otherwise any open ends would have complicated the other storylines too much, particularly regarding the heir to Downton Abbey. The other main issue, for audiences, was the timing. Notoriously, in the UK, it was universally despised by viewers because the finale for season 3 occurred on Christmas Day.

When the episode involving the death of Matthew Crawley first aired on Christmas Day in the United Kingdom, there was an outpouring from some horror-stricken viewers. Many claimed their happy holiday had been ruined by such a terrible tragedy, especially after the character had just welcomed his child with Lady Mary. Viewers in America were similarly stunned only a few weeks later on PBS. Behind the scenes the show had been pulling out all the stops to try to find another way.

Executive producer Gareth Neame felt the harsh exit was the best choice for the character given the circumstances. But the actor was looking for new opportunities beyond the fictional Yorkshire estate and was feeling ready to leave. In an interview with The Telegraph , Stevens explained that status and money had little to do with his decision to exit the show. The word 'boyfriend appeared in print in , long before the period setting of Downton. Fellowes said "they think to show how smart they are by picking holes in the program to promote their own poshness and to show that their knowledge is greater than your knowledge".

In a later article coinciding with the start of the second season, Fellowes apologised and commented "I behaved rather badly by getting the hump. Why Matthew had to die Farewell Dan Stevens Downton Abbey costs an average of one million pounds per episode to produce. Gillian Anderson reportedly turned down the part of Lady Cora Grantham. It was reported that Steven Waddington auditioned for the part of Bates. The UK's GQ magazine featured a photo shoot of Downton Abbey's men in modern fashion, even though they all still have that 'to the manor born' look about them.