WARNING: This post contains spoilers from the plot of theDownton Abbeymovie.
Read at your own risk.
The King and Queen are coming to Downton!
Jaap Buitendijk/Focus Features
Will Thomas (Rob James-Collier) be up for the butler-ing job?
And will Tom Branson (Allen Leech) let his Republican tendencies show, much to the familys embarrassment?
Its always surprising the people that love the show.
Im always bowled over by it.
And I turned to her and said, You better get used to that in January.
That was a pretty cool moment and that will always stick out in my mind.
These days Leech is getting as much adventure on screen as he is off.
I said to [creator] Julian [Fellowes] once, Where does Tom end up?
and he said, Well, who knows?
But thats life, Allen, not everyone gets a happy ending at the same time.
You have to trust in Julian.
I did feel it was left slightly open-ended.
Obviously, now with hindsight, Im delighted because it gave him so much to do within the film.
But also what he does within the family and how hes become so integral to the family.
Thats something that made me very happy the importance that Branson has within Downton.
Its something I could never have imagined when I started this.
[I was originally contracted for] three episodes.
He definitely stuck around for longer than that.
What was your reaction when you first read the script and saw how central you were?
Were you surprised by the circumstances?I really was.
I didnt know what to expect.
I love that moment when you get one of Julians scripts.
Were you surprised by who Tom ends up romantically connecting with?
Theyre outside on their own, doing their own thing.
Thats a lasting image of them moving towards the future and a symbol of the modern age.
Your chemistry with Jessica Brown Findlay was partly what really propelled the show to its extreme popularity early on.
Was it fun to get to be in that space again and be the romantic lead again?
Shes a wonderful actress.
This time it was the lady and the chauffeur.
People love the idea because what they symbolized was how love can conquer all.
This time, Tuppence is a wonderful actress; its the second time we got to work together.
She was inThe Imitation Game.I had a lot more dialogue with her this time.
In that movie, Im pretty sure I just said Hello.
So, it was lovely to get to act with her.
Ive admired her work for many years.
We had a lot of false starts with Tom, but this was the right time for it.
You save the King from an assassination attempt.
What was it like filming that scene?
Fun?It was very exciting because I never got to do anything like that on the show.
Over the four days, we had the actual Kings Troop.
Theyre actually a working regiment of the army.
I mean, having done epic 45-minute battles in that show.
But it was very exciting.
[Director] Michael Engler calls it an action-ish scene.
Were you surprised by Toms role in that scenario?
Obviously, he would do this for only one reason.
Julian and I agreed hes doing this for the family, not for anything else.
His loyalty is to the family, certainly not to the monarchy.
The assassination attempt and him thwarting it shows Branson is integral to the world of Downton Abbey.
