The last time Dan Stevens was on our TVs, it was Christmas Day 2012 and his Downton Abbey character, the cuddly, curtain-haired Matthew Crawley, was breathing his last at the wheel, leaving a nation sobbing into its Quality Street.
Fast forward five years and he's back on the small screen in Fox's Legion - minus the curtains and starched collars, but with a whole heap of other problems.
He plays David Haller in the new TV series inspired by Marvel's X-Men comics. His character is a diagnosed schizophrenic who's slowly realising that what he thought were delusions might actually be signs of mutant superpowers. It's a long way from Downton.
But how did he get here?
Step 1: Getting lean and mean
After his untimely Downton demise, Stevens moved his family to Brooklyn and did a stint on Broadway opposite Jessica Chastain in The Heiress.
A year later, he cast off the ghost of Matthew Crawley (and around 30lbs) for psycho-thriller The Guest, playing a charming but terrifying house guest with a killer six-pack. Cue the 'Dan Stevens doesn't look like this anymore' headlines.
Step 2: Embracing indie flicks
More sexy and subversive roles followed. Most notably, in The Ticket, where he plays a blind, happily married man who suddenly recovers his sight and then, seduced by his own good looks, morphs into a self-obsessed jerk.
Step 3: Playing the outsider
He may have started off as the heir to Lord Grantham's fortune but, ever since, he's been repping for the underdog. Unless you've been hiding out under a rock for the past year, you'll probably be aware that he plays the ultimate Disney underdog in the forthcoming all-singing, all-dancing, reboot of Beauty and the Beast – he's the misunderstood Beast to Emma Watson's Belle.
Step 4: Becoming a superhero
But it's his charismatic superhero incarnation in the much-anticipated Legion - created by Fargo's Noah Hawley, no less - that should finally allow Stevens to shake off Matthew Crawley. David Haller is, quite literally, a world away.
In the show's first episode, a nervous government official speculates that Haller might be 'the most powerful mutant we've ever encountered'. That soon becomes abundantly clear.
Matthew Crawley, while good with finances and sheep farming, had no discernible superpower. Although he did make a miraculous recovery from apparent paralysis, so who knows?
And while Crawley was a pretty straightforward kind of guy, Haller is a touch more complicated. In fact, he's sweet, funny, bewildered, sardonic, brooding and manic - and that's just in the opening episode.
Above all, though, Haller is just one hell of a cool character. It's not only the superpowers, it's also the Royal Tenenbaums' inspired regulation psych ward tracksuits and silk PJs and the occasional spot of Bollywood dancing. Yes, really.
He's also got a wicked sense of humour.
Come to think of it, the Dowager Countess would have loved him.
For a glimpse of what's to come, check out the trailer below.
The first episode of Legion airs on Fox at 9pm on Thursday, February 9.
Alison is head of content for the Good Housekeeping Institute, responsible for product reviews across homes, beauty, wellness, family and food & drink. She lives by the William Morris quote that you should “have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful.”
Alison has over 15 years' experience as a lifestyle editor and has written features on everything from misophonia to how to dress like Claudia on The Traitors. She has also interviewed everyone from Dame Joanna Lumley to the Kardashians.
In her spare time, you'll find her hanging out with Monty the cocker spaniel and refreshing the Sezane website every five seconds.
