Downton Abbey’s Joanne Froggatt reveals major spoiler: ‘I wrote my own storyline’

Joanne Froggatt is set to reprise her role as Anna Bates in Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale. The actress – who is currently promoting MobLand in the US – was quizzed about the third and final film in a new interview. 

Appearing on New York Live, Joanne, 44, was asked if Anna would get a fitting ending come September 12. “I’m really happy with where Anna Bates ends up,” she said with a smile. “I mean, I kind of wrote my own storyline because I was heavily pregnant, so Anna had to be heavily pregnant, so there we go.”

As fans will remember, Anna and her husband, John (Brendan Coyle), welcomed a son named John Jr. during series six of Downton Abbey. With the character slated to have another child in the final film, cinema-goers can already expect some sweet scenes between Anna, John and their growing family.

© Features/Kobal/Shutterstock

Joanne, who joined Downton Abbey in 2010, has teased a few details about The Grand Finale in recent months. 

“We come to the core of the family and the servants, what the future will be and looking back at where the family have got to now,” she told the Metro in March. “It’s a beautiful full-circle moment that it comes to at the end.”

Paul Giamatti teases ‘significant’ storyline for Harold Levinson

In the run-up to the movie’s launch, cast members, including Joanne and her co-star Paul Giamatti, have shared some exciting updates. 

Chatting with People, Paul – who previously appeared as Harold Levinson in the 2013 Christmas special – revealed his surprise at being asked back. “The interesting thing for me was that they even asked me at all because I was like, ‘I don’t have an important character in this story,’ ” he said. 

© ITV

 “But what’s funny is my character has a very significant role. He does something very significant in the movie. I was like, ‘It’s really funny they brought me back to do this very important, significant thing.’ ” 

Reflecting on the film’s shoot, which took place in the summer of last year, Paul, 57, admitted that it “was not the same” without the late, great Maggie Smith. “It was not the same without her, but it felt very much like in her honor in some way. She certainly still feels present through the whole thing,” he mused. “Not having her there is obviously a huge loss, but everybody was still acting in her spirit.”

Honouring the late Maggie Smith

A sentiment echoed by Downton’s Gareth Neame, the executive producer noted that the cast and crew’s “huge respect for her … will come across in the next movie.”

The fact that Dame Maggie herself has now passed away since that time, I do think, has given a real added poignancy to a story that we would have planned anyway,” he told TV Line. 

© Focus Features/Kobal/Shutterstock

“The loss of the Dowager [in Downton Abbey: A New Era], it now feels far more significant that you see actors playing characters mourning the family matriarch. But I also see actors mourning the matriarch of the show, and it feels more genuine and more meaningful.”