The unimaginable death of Matthew Crawley (played by Dan Stevens) was as devastating to viewers as it was to the fictional family he left behind in Downton Abbey. The shocking exit of one of Downton‘s popular characters seemed illogical to many viewers. The leading man, who had just become a new father, had so much potential unexplored. The show’s loyal viewers had many reasons to get invested in the character. And just like the car accident that claimed the Downton heir, there was little anyone could do to change Matthew Crawley’s fate off-screen.

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 that such a tragedy had ruined their happy holiday, especially after the character welcomed a child with his wife, Lady Mary. Viewers in America were similarly stunned only a few weeks later on PBS. But it wasn’t just the audience who wished for a different outcome. Behind the scenes, the show’s creative team pulled out all the stops to try to find another way.

Updated by Timothy Blake Donohoo on June, 2025: Downton Abbey has been a major and acclaimed gem over the years, with the franchise set to finally come to an end soon in movie form. It had many iconic characters, including Dan Stevens’ Matthew Crawley, with these cast members coming and going over the years. Given the popularity of the character, many still question Matthew Crawley’s death. Thankfully, the actor himself went on to have quite a career beyond the halls of Downton Abbey.

Matthew Crawley’s Exit From Downton Abbey Was Unexpected

Matthew Crawley Met With a Tragic Fate After the Happiest Moment of His Life

The primary reason Matthew Crawley’s departure from the show hurt so much was how integral he was to the plot. Much of Downton Abbey Seasons 1 and 2 were spent on Mary and Matthew’s enemies-to-lovers romance arc, which had become the best part of the show. Their initial hostility turned into affection, but things weren’t so simple for them. Mary tarnished his proposal when Cora got pregnant (because Matthew would no longer inherit the estate), after which Matthew left to fight in World War I. When Matthew returned, it was with a new fiancée, Lavinia Swire, and Richard Carlisle was courting Mary.

After death, loss, and much healing, Mary and Matthew found their way back to each other, culminating in a Season 3 wedding. Since their chapter was just beginning, viewers were caught off guard in the Season 3 finale. Mary, almost full-term pregnant, decided to go to Duneagle Castle in Scotland to visit their relatives. After a day of hunting, dancing, and outdoor activities, Mary felt unwell and decided to return home, leaving Matthew behind to enjoy the last of his moments before fatherhood. However, early labor at the station forced Mary to go to the hospital, and Matthew’s car was left at the station so that he could reach the hospital after he got off the train.

While the Crawley heir had the fortune of seeing his son and sharing a tender moment with his wife, his car ride back to the station proved fatal. Elated about the birth of his son, Matthew sped back to the station so that he could let the rest of the family know, neglecting to see a delivery truck coming from the opposite side. He swerved to avoid the truck, but the car flipped on him, resulting in a terrible neck and head injury that killed the fan-favorite Downton Abbey character instantly.

Dan Stevens Left Downton Abbey to Pursue Other Projects

Stevens Wanted to Grow His Acting Career Beyond the Period Drama

Credit: Image via Carnival Films

Julian Fellowes, the co-creator and writer of Downton Abbey, acknowledged viewers’ disappointment over the death of Matthew Crawley but defended the decision, telling The Express, “I didn’t have a choice.” Fellowes said he tried to convince Stevens that he could leave the show as a main character and pursue new opportunities yet still be able to return at a later date for smaller appearances.

Even this level of minimal commitment wasn’t the clean break Stevens was looking for. Perhaps Stevens wanted the character gone so he wasn’t tempted to return to an admittedly great show with a wonderful cast. If Matthew died, Stevens had to look elsewhere for roles to grow his career beyond this single, beloved character.

Given the circumstances, executive producer Gareth Neame felt the harsh exit was the best choice for the character. “We were all agreed that the only way we could break Mary and Matthew apart was for one to die,” he told The Evening Standard. “There really was no alternative.” With only one episode to do the deed, there was no time for a drawn-out death, and a quick exit was exactly what Stevens wanted. The show tried to make it work narratively, knowing fans would feel unsatisfied. Yet, in fairness to the writers, death sometimes happens unexpectedly and without much fanfare to a devastating and tragic result. Like it or not, it adds harsh realism to the emotional family drama.

Stevens’ fame reached a new level thanks to his time on Downton Abbey. 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. Instead, he was looking for the freedom to take on a range of different and interesting roles. His three-year contract with the show was going to expire, so it needed to be renewed if he was going to remain in any capacity. But it seemed there was little anyone could do to make that happen. The actor was already thinking about new opportunities in the United States, where he went on to appear in wildly different projects like the underrated X-Men spinoff series Legion and playing the Beast in Disney’s live-action The Beauty and the Beast remake.

Downton Abbey and Dan Stevens Both Moved on Successfully

Downton Continued to Be a Hit and Stevens Achieved Acting Success

Credit: Image via the Carnival Films

The man behind Matthew Crawley later explained to Collider that he was apprehensive about getting stuck doing an endless run of historical “posh house dramas, and World War I dramas, and anything with floppy hair.” Remaining on Downton Abbey, in his mind, only seemed to perpetuate the typecasting he was trying to get away from. By leaving Downton for Hollywood, Dan Stevens had a better chance for greater career fulfillment with more diverse roles. As a testament to the actor and the series he left behind, both achieved continued success without the other. Downton Abbey finished its award-winning run on TV and produced two feature films, with Downton Abbey: A New Era bringing stories full circle.

Meanwhile, Stevens found success beyond Downton Abbey, starring in FX’s Legion and establishing a movie career, and this was far from his only success after his run as Matthew Crawley on Downton Abbey. In the late 2010s, Dan Stevens portrayed David Haller on Legion, a spinoff of the Fox X-Men movies. This series was acclaimed for its trippy and experimental style, offering a break from the norm of the increasingly ubiquitous superhero/comic book TV show genre. Since then, Stevens has been one of the names suggested to potentially be the next James Bond, and he’s also joined Legendary’s successful MonsterVerse. First appearing in 2024’s Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire, he portrayed the rambunctious Trapper, and he’s set to reprise the role in the next film, Godzilla x Kong: Supernova.

Dan Stevens Wasn’t the Only One to Leave Downton

The Long-Running British Series Lost Several Cast Members Along the Way

Credit: Image via ITV

Matthew Crawley wasn’t the only character to make unceremonious exits from the beloved British drama. Also, in Season 3, Jessica Brown Findlay left the show for reasons similar to Stevens. She was still in art school when filming, and the series’ success “freaked” her out, according to an appearance on Channel 4’s Sunday Brunch in 2019. She also wanted to branch out in her acting career, taking roles in Netflix’s successful Black Mirror series, a BBC drama called Life After Life and The Riot Club. Also, Ed Speeler’s character, Jimmy Kent, was fired from the house in Season 3.

Since then, the actor has appeared in Netflix’s You and as Jean-Luc Picard’s son in Star Trek: Picard Season 3. While most fans love when characters stick around a series until it ends, in the case of the servant class on Downton, cast members disappearing and never being mentioned again fits into the narrative, just as the sudden tragedy of death did for Matthew Crawley. While Downton Abbey would have fans believe the family cared for the people in their service, the reality was that British aristocrats saw some of these workers as interchangeable. The lengths the family goes to help and provide for their staff who are in trouble are likely exaggerated for dramatic effect.

While the family was kinder than most, it remains an examination of a caste-like system that’s not entirely to be celebrated. The show tries to balance these stories while allowing viewers to feel sympathy for and like the aristocratic characters. Matthew Crawley’s loss didn’t hurt this narrative since he was an outsider to the high life. It’s always sad for viewers when a beloved character is killed off in a series, and the death of Matthew Crawley in Downton Abbey was one of the most shocking for its viewers. Sometimes, losing an actor or character can kill the magic in a show. It’s a testament to how great Downton Abbey was that the loss of Matthew Crawley, Sybil or any of the others who left the series didn’t derail the story.

How Matthew’s Death Influenced Lady Mary’s Growth as a Character

Lady Mary Became a More Complicated Character After Matthew’s Death

Credit: Image via ITV

While Matthew’s death shattered every character in Downton Abbey, none were affected quite as much as his wife, Lady Mary. Originally depicted as a somewhat distant and even cold individual whose own self-loathing sometimes kept her from forging deep relationships, Mary found a new side of herself during her relationship with Matthew. As half of one of Downton Abbey‘s greatest relationships, Mary built up a warmer personality that helped her connect to the other people around her.

Unfortunately, Matthew’s death caused her to question all the character developments she had made during their marriage. With Matthew gone, Mary began to slip back into her old ways: her self-loathing tendencies returned, and she began to push away the people who cared about her the most.

Lady Mary even began to wonder if the new personality she’d forged with Matthew had been real, or if it had simply been someone she pretended to be when her husband was still alive. After Matthew’s death, Lady Mary made several decisions that proved controversial to the Downton Abbey fanbase, particularly when it comes to her relationship with her sister Edith. Mary said some truly horrible things to her, causing their relationship to wax cold over the years. It is clear that Matthew’s death broke Mary in a way that may have never truly healed had it not been for more outside help. As Matthew’s demise grew more distant, Mary found herself looking for love again and eventually married Henry Talbot.

Mary’s marriage to Henry helped her open up in ways that she had never been able to since the death of her husband. She gradually rediscovered the warmer side of herself she had lost, eventually mending her broken relationships and moving forward in a new, positive direction. Although Matthew’s death was tragic and broke many Downton Abbey fans’ hearts, it opened the door for a particularly compelling narrative to unfold with his widow at its center. Lady Mary undergoes one of the show’s best character arcs as she deals with her husband’s death in her unique way. The show always missed Matthew Crawley, but his departure was a turning point for the series’ narrative overall.

Downton Abbey Is Coming Back for a Final Movie

The Franchise Is Wrapping Up In 2025

While Dan Stevens’ Matthew Crawley might be long gone, there’s still some small life left in Downton Abbey. Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale will be the third movie in the franchise, and as the name suggests, it’s the end of the British period drama that began over a decade ago. Many cast members will reprise their roles from previous seasons, with actors such as Paul Giamatti being one of them. Unfortunately, due to the death of Matthew Crawley long beforehand, Dan Stevens will not be playing the character again in the finale movie. The rest of the Crawley clan will be present, however, as the family and their story come to a close in the 1930s.

Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale is releasing in theaters on September 12, 2025, with this being a decade after the show’s final season in 2015. It’s also three years after the theatrical release of the brand’s second movie, Downton Abbey: A New Era, which itself came three years after the first movie. Going on for one and a half decades, the show and the series it spawned are modern classics in the annals of television, movies and British popular culture. Dan Stevens was just one of the many actors who benefited from being a part of this landmark franchise, and while his character Matthew Crawley might be dead, he definitely made a big impact through the role.