Although the majority of Downton Abbey loyalists haven't moved on from the Season 3 death of Matthew Crawley (Dan Stevens), series creator Julian Fellowes feels that it may not be such a bad thing for Lady Mary's (Michelle Dockery) character development.

While conducting an interview with ONTD, series creator Julian Fellowes stated that the death of Matthew gave the British-American drama an opportunity to "explore and examine the grief, sadness of someone [Lady Mary] who had opened up slowly and almost reluctantly to real love, only to be deprived of it at the height of her happiness."

While speaking to the Los Angeles Times on May 28, Dockery had spoken about the gravity of Lady Mary's situation

"The predicament that Mary's in now is that she does need to find someone eventually. She has the heir to Downton, she has baby George and she is under pressure to find someone. In that world, women had to find someone. It was all about marriage and who you'd spend the rest of your life with."

Downton Abbey is slated to kick off in the U.S. on Jan. 5, 2014, and run until February 23, 2014. Only time will truly tell just how Lady Mary's love life will ultimately unfold.

Be sure to keep checking back for more of the latest details on the British-American period piece. For more Downton dirt related to the upcoming season, be sure to check out the video clip below.

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Downton abbey, Television, PBS, ITV