EXCLUSIVE: How legendary gay artist Noël Coward was brought to life for the movie.
By Cameron Scheetz
Image Credit: Rory Mulvey / ‘Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale,’ Focus Features
After 15 years, the story of Downtown Abbey comes to an end with The Grand Finale, as the aristocratic Crawley family and their beloved staff embrace the social changes brought on by a new generation.
It’s 1930, and in many ways, these changes are signified by Nöel Coward, the prolific playwright and performer whose works have made him the toast of the theater scene, from The West End to Broadway, and who was unmistakably homosexual—though that was not something discussed openly in polite society back then.
In that sense, his introduction to the world of Downtown Abbey in The Grand Finale brings a touch of modernity and queerness to the proceedings, not to mention that beloved Coward wit.
Played by Arty Froushan (The Persian Version, Daredevil: Born Again), the Crawley company meets Nöel Coward through former butler Thomas Barrow (Robert James-Collier) and his partner, the actor Guy Dexter (Dominic West), who found love in 2022’s Downtown Abbey: The New Era and decided to move to America together.
In the Queerty exclusive preview clip from Downtown Abbey: The Grand Finale—in theaters everywhere September 12—Dexter and Barrow introduce their friends to Coward who, as you can see, knows how to make an impression:
