‘Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale’ ending explained: what happens to Mary?

After 15 years across the big and small screen, Downton Abbey takes its final bow with Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale.

Directed by Simon Curtis, who helmed the last big screen outing Downton Abbey: The New Era, the concluding chapter follows the Crawley family and their staff as they enter the 1930s amid a public scandal involving Mary (Michelle Dockery).

It is the third film in the Downton Abbey franchise, which originally began as a TV show in 2010. The series spanned six seasons and concluded in December 2015.

Along with Dockery, Hugh Bonneville, Jim Carter, Paul Giamatti, Elizabeth McGovern, Laura Carmichael, Joanne Froggatt and others reprise their roles. Newcomers to the cast include Joey Richardson, Alessandro Nivola, Simon Russell Beale and Arty Froushan.

What happens to Mary at the end of Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale?

After Mary (Michelle Dockery) manages to rehabilitate her reputation following the divorce outcry, Robert (Hugh Bonneville) entrusts her to manage Downton Abbey. Robert decides to move into the Dower house previously occupied by his mother Violet (Maggie Smith), who died in the previous film Downton Abbey: The New Era.

This leaves Mary, the granddaughter of Violet, to take the reins at Downton Abbey and steer its future. In an emotional closing scene, she parts ways with the rest of the Crawley family, including her maid Anna (Joanne Froggatt) and sister Edith (Laura Carmichael).

What happens in the final scene?

In the final scene, Mary looks around Downton Abbey and sees visions of characters who have died over the years. This includes her late husband Matthew (Dan Stevens), her late grandmother Violet (Maggie Smith), and her late sister Sybil (Jessica Brown Findlay).

As she wells up with emotion, Mary walks away and the camera rests on the portrait of her late grandmother Violet, in tribute to the late Maggie Smith.

Speaking about the scene to USA Today, creator Julian Fellowes said: “Maggie haunts the film in many ways. Cora says to Robert, ‘We’ll be sharing it with your mother’s ghost,’ and he says, ‘She’s part of our story. It’s all part of our story.’

“I wanted to make the point that we are all the result of many things that have happened; many people that have come into our lives and some of them left it. Somehow, you have to find a place for all of that.”

Is there a post-credit scene?

There is a mid-credits scene which shows various couples enjoying their new life together, including Thomas (Rob James-Collier) and Guy Dexter (Dominic West), and Charlie Carson (Jim Carter) and Elsie Hughes (Phyllis Hogan).