--- title: Downton Abbey Creator Didn't Want Show's Timeline to Reach Nazi Era description: "I don’t know that there is anything else to be said about the Nazis" canonical: https://time.com/3937975/downton-abbey-nazis/ author: Sarah Begley article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-06-26T18:00:36.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T08:35:25.193Z article:section: Entertainment og:title: 'Downton Abbey' Creator on Why He Ended the Show Before the Nazi Era og:description: "I don’t know that there is anything else to be said about the Nazis" og:url: https://time.com/3937975/downton-abbey-nazis/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltda3f496abbb07507/69885893e53abad24a4de5f7/julian-fellowes.jpeg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: "Downton Abbey" Set Visit og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: 'Downton Abbey' Creator on Why He Ended the Show Before the Nazi Era twitter:description: "I don’t know that there is anything else to be said about the Nazis" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltda3f496abbb07507/69885893e53abad24a4de5f7/julian-fellowes.jpeg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # _Downton Abbey_ Creator: I Didn't Want to End the Show With Nazis by [Sarah Begley](https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/) ## Sarah Begley Jun 26, 2015 6:00 PM UTC  Julian Fellowes on the "Downton Abbey" set at Highclere Castle on February 16, 2015 in Newbury, England. Julian Fellowes on the "Downton Abbey" set at Highclere Castle on February 16, 2015 in Newbury, England.Vera Anderson—WireImage/Getty Images by [Sarah Begley](https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/) ## Sarah Begley Jun 26, 2015 6:00 PM UTC _Downton Abbey_ creator Julian Fellowes was happy to have the show address life in England before, during and after WWI—but he’s glad it will end before the rumblings of WWII hit the British newspapers. Fellowes, who has written every episode of the hit series and is preparing to wind down its sixth and final season, [tells The Wrap](http://www.thewrap.com/emmy-wrap-downton-abbey-creator-julian-fellowes-on-why-hes-ending-the-show-before-the-nazis/) that he never wanted to take the Crawley family into the 1930s. “I feel the ’30s have been very much explored dramatically,” he said, “and I didn’t really want to get into the whole business of the Nazis, which I think has been explored exhaustively. And I don’t know that there is anything else to be said about the Nazis.” On another level, he explained, he prefers dramas “where you don’t know whose side you’re on, or maybe you change sides. You might initially think, Oh no, \[Maggie Smith’s character\] Violet is completely wrong in this, but as the argument goes on and as you hear more of her point of view, you understand where she’s coming from….But the Nazis don’t give you that. Nobody’s _slightly_ on the side of the Nazis.” Fellowes added that there have been “wonderful films” about the Nazis, but that he’s not “the right guy to write them.” He said he purposefully set his film _Gosford Park_ in November 1932 because it was “the last time when you could do something about the British upper classes without the Nazis.” The only downside in this decision is we will never hear a snide remark about Hitler from the Dowager Countess. \[[_The Wrap_](http://www.thewrap.com/emmy-wrap-downton-abbey-creator-julian-fellowes-on-why-hes-ending-the-show-before-the-nazis/)\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3937975/downton-abbey-nazis/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3937975/downton-abbey-nazis/"},"headline":"Downton Abbey Creator: I Didn't Want to End the Show With Nazis","datePublished":"2015-06-26T18:00:36.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T08:35:25.193Z","description":"\"I don’t know that there is anything else to be said about the Nazis\"","url":"https://time.com/3937975/downton-abbey-nazis/","keywords":["Television","downton abbey","Nazis"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltda3f496abbb07507/69885893e53abad24a4de5f7/julian-fellowes.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Sarah Begley","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltda3f496abbb07507/69885893e53abad24a4de5f7/julian-fellowes.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"\"Downton Abbey\" Set Visit","caption":"\"Downton Abbey\" Set Visit","creditText":"Vera Anderson—WireImage/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3937975/downton-abbey-nazis/","name":"Downton Abbey Creator: I Didn't Want to End the Show With Nazis"}}]}] ```