Matthew Goode has revealed why it's a "good thing" he's not in the third and final Downton Abbey film.
Titled Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale, the final film is set for release in cinemas this September, 15 years after the show first premiered on TV.
Starring as Henry Talbot in seasons 5 and 6 of the TV series, Goode returned to the role for the first Downton film in 2019.
Speaking to Radio Times, Goode confirmed that he would not be returning for the third film as he was busy shooting his new Netflix crime series Department Q and had undergone surgery on his knee.
He said: "I was unavailable for the second because I was doing The Offer. Then [for the third] I was shooting this [Department Q]. But I also buggered my knee, and I had to have an operation. That takes weeks to get over, so I was never going to be able to do it."
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Describing his character Henry, who married Michelle Dockery's Lady Mary on the TV series, Goode said: "And let’s face it, he was edging towards becoming a bit of a wet lettuce. So maybe it’s a good thing."
Returning cast members for the new film include Dockery, Hugh Bonneville, Jim Carter, Phyllis Logan, Elizabeth McGovern, Laura Carmichael, Joanne Froggatt, Robert James-Collier, Allen Leech, Lesley Nicol, and Penelope Wilton.
Also returning for the finale are stars including Brendan Coyle, Michael Fox, Kevin Doyle, Raquel Cassidy, Harry Hadden-Paton, Sophie McShera, Douglas Reith and Dominic West.
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Paul Giamatti has also joined the cast for movie number three, where he will reprise his role as Cora Crawley's brother Harold Levinson, who appeared in one episode of season four.
The third film will feature a "meaningful" tribute to the late Dame Maggie Smith, whose character the Dowager Countess Violet Crawley died at the end of the 2022 sequel.
Speaking about the film, Dockery said it is "a real tribute to Maggie Smith", who died in 2024.
Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale is released in cinemas on 12 September 2025.
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Harriet is a freelance news writer specialising in TV and movies at Digital Spy.
A horror enthusiast, she joined Digital Spy after working on her own horror website, reviewing films and focusing largely on feminism in the genre.
In her spare time, Harriet paints and produces mixed-media art. She graduated from the University of Kingston with a BA in fine art, where she specialised in painting. She also has an MA in journalism from Birkbeck University.
