Downton Abbey Creator Explains How [Spoiler]'s Absence In The Grand Finale Led To Mary's 'Interesting Position'

Warning: This article spoils a major plot point in Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale. Haven't seen it yet? You might want to make like O'Brien and disappear.

Lady Mary (Michelle Dockery) finds herself at the center of a scandal in Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale, now playing in theaters nationwide, when it's revealed that she and Henry Talbot (Matthew Goode) are d... d... divorced. Goodness, that was difficult to type with one hand clutching our pearls.

But while high society may be stunned by this outrageous turn of events — and stunned they are, forcing Mary to hide under the stairs during a party, lest the royal guests be seen mingling with a divorced woman — the writing really has been on the wall for this troubled couple, especially after Goode's absence from the second film.

"For Matthew, once he'd done the series, I think he felt he'd done the job," Downton Abbey creator Julian Fellowes tells TVLine. "He was in the first film for a very short time — I think he gave us three days or something — and then he didn't want to be in the second or third, so I had to come up with a believable reason for all of that, or I would have been stuck. Matthew is a wonderful actor, so I was sorry he didn't want to be part of it. I can't pretend that I was glad, but in this business, you must make what you've got work. That's your job."

So Fellowes did just that, revealing Henry to be an adulterer and crafting a story for Mary that "put her in a very interesting position." As Fellowes explains, "Mary has always been something of a winner all the way through, and suddenly it's gone against her, and she's a kind of loser," Fellowes explains. "I felt that was good for us and good for Michelle."

Indeed, forcing Mary to stand in her power as a single woman led to a satisfying arc for the eldest Crawley daughter, who was formally put in charge of the Abbey at the end of the film. And although we won't get to spend more time at Downton under Mary's rule, Fellowes has no doubt in her ability to weather any storm.

"By the end of the war, things were changing in all those areas," he says. "If you were tough enough, strong enough, you'd get through it. Mary will get through it. Whether she marries again or not, is something else."

Downton Abbey fans, were you surprised to learn that Mary and Henry went their separate ways? What did you think of Mary's arc in The Grand Finale? Grade the movie in the poll below, then drop a comment with your full review.