#goode performance

“I’ve got great stories from those [Downton] sets. We actually gave Maggie Smith one of the greatest days of her life, she said.” -Matthew GoodE

From Deadline June 7, 2025

DEADLINE: I know why you are not doing the third Downton Abbey film. You had knee surgery and you’ve explained all that, but —

GOODE: It was a half-a-page scene.

DEADLINE: Were they going to kill you off?

GOODE: I spoke to Michelle [Dockery] at length about what we could possibly… I think we were going to try and ask for a slight rewrite or something or other. And then eventually it was just that they were moving ahead. It was a big racecourse day, so the thing was booked, and I was never going to be able to do it, which was a shame because I love that cast. To be on a set with Hugh [Bonneville] and Allen [Leech]. I’ve got great stories from those sets. We actually gave Maggie Smith one of the greatest days of her life, she said. She came off [set], and she said, “I think that might’ve been my favorite day on a set ever.”

DEADLINE: What did you do?

GOODE: It was the wedding of our characters, and we shot it out very secretively somewhere out in the countryside. I think in Oxford somewhere. And our green room for 20 actors was the garden of an ex-Concorde pilot. This is going to sound jolly unprofessional, and it is a bit unprofessional, but it’s f*cking funny. He came out with a bottle of rosé and just put it on the table, a bottle of Minuty, which was a nice Aix-en-Province rosé. And obviously all the other actors, they looked at it and they’re like, “No. Well, obviously we can’t do that.” I’m just a bit naughty. I don’t know if it’s coming across or not. And it was really hot, and it was looking at me and the perspiration was rolling down the bottle and I said, “I’ll have a glass, thank you so much.” And I sat and I quaffed it bloody quickly. And I said, “Is it OK if I have another one?” And then you started to see all the other actors, particularly the ones that didn’t have any lines that day, just a big ensemble piece, none of us had that much to do, really. So we all started drinking. We went through 22 bottles of rosé. No one was drunk. But my god, were we merry. And if you’ve made Maggie Smith happy, then it can’t be wrong. He was a gentleman and it was a gorgeous house and gorgeous garden as well. And also we gave them good stories because then suddenly they’ve got a ton of half-cut, quite famous people in their garden having great fun. So, they’ve got anecdotes for the rest of their life. I wouldn’t do it again though for any future producers listening.

DEADLINE: No, of course not. I know this is the final Downton film, but if there was a spinoff, would you ever do it?

Matthew GoodE photographed by Lee Marlone June 2025 1/2

Netflix is submitting Dept. Q for FOR YOUR EMMY® CONSIDERATION in the categories including

*OUTSTANDING DRAMA SERIES

*OUTSTANDING LEAD ACTOR IN A DRAMA SERIES

MATTHEW GOODE