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"Downton Abbey creator Julian Fellowes has addressed Dan Stevens&amp;#039;s rumoured exit from the series. Stevens - who plays Matthew Crawley on the hit period drama - will reportedly depart Downton in 2013 following the fourth series premiere.  &amp;quot;Sometimes actors feel they want to move on,&amp;quot; Fellowes told Entertainment Weekly. &amp;quot;Initially, for the first two or three [seasons] you can contract them, but after that, every season, you have to re-contract them. He added: &amp;quot;If they don&amp;#039;t want to come back, there&amp;#039;s nothing we can do.&amp;quot; However, Fellowes insisted that he will not recast the role of Matthew should Stevens ultimately opt to quit Downton. &amp;quot;I can&amp;#039;t see us doing that,&amp;quot; said the Oscar-winning writer. Fellowes also claimed that the recently-confirmed fourth series of Downton Abbey will likely pick up soon after the events of series three&amp;#039;s finale.  &amp;quot;I think we&amp;#039;ll go on jogging quite happily through the &amp;#039;20s,&amp;quot; he revealed. &amp;quot;You know there&amp;#039;s always a little time jump. We did two years between [seasons] one and two because we only wanted to spend two years in the war so we had to start halfway through the war. Now we don&amp;#039;t have those imperatives.&amp;quot; Downton Abbey will return to ITV1 this Christmas for a festive special, with the full fourth series following next year. In the US, the third run will debut on PBS on January 6. &amp;gt; Downton Abbey creator Julian Fellowes develops new US period drama &amp;gt; Downton Abbey Julian Fellowes: &amp;#039;Maggie Smith&amp;#039;s Violet will not die&amp;#039; Watch ITV&amp;#039;s trailer for Downton Abbey series three below:      "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.digitalspy.com/tv/downton-abbey/news/a442906/downton-abbey-wont-recast-matthew-crawley-says-julian-fellowes/>