Entertainment

‘Downton Abbey’ young actors are in demand

Dan Stevens

Dan Stevens (Nick Wall)

GONERS: Jessica Brown Findlay (Lady Sybil) and Dan Stevens (Matthew) were killed off “Downton Abbey.” (
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The young actors on TV’s hottest drama, “Downton Abbey,” are all in demand — and they’re fleeing the storied halls of Highclere Castle.

More to the point, they’re being knocked off, one by one, once they decide to leave the series.

Jessica Brown Findlay, who played Lady Sybil Crawley, exited the show to star in the film version of Mark Helprin’s novel “Winter’s Tale,” in which she’s romantically paired with Colin Farrell.

On “Downton,” she suffered a horrible death a few weeks ago, dying in childbirth from pre-eclampsia.

In the show’s Sunday night season finale, Dan Stevens saw his character die in a car accident — after announcing his departure from the show while appearing opposite Jessica Chastain in Broadway’s “The Heiress.”

He has already lined up “A Walk Among the Tombstones,” a film with Liam Neeson. Michelle Dockery, who has yet to perish as Lady Mary Crawley, also has a role in a Neeson film, “Non-Stop.”

Even Hugh Bonneville, who plays straight-backed patriarch Lord Robert Crawley, snagged a supporting part in the George Clooney film, “The Monuments Men,” about museum curators who try recovering works of art stolen by the Nazis. Bonneville will be in classy company with Cate Blanchett and Daniel Craig.

Unlike most American TV actors, the “Downton” cast didn’t sign onerous seven-year contracts which promise job security and residuals if a show goes into syndication but offer little flexibility.

Production on the fourth season of “Downton Abbey” has begun in the UK.

“Downton Abbey,” which was created by Julian Fellowes, airs on ITV in the UK and on PBS here in the US.