'Downton Abbey' star Michelle Dockery insists her character has "retained her bite".
The 31-year-old actress plays Lady Mary Crawley in the hit period drama and while her alter-ego is still devastated after losing her husband Matthew Crawley - played by Dan Stevens - to a car crash on the shocking Christmas Day (25.12.12) episode, she is still "incredibly snobbish".
Michelle said: "Because of everything that's happened to her she has become less vain with each series ... [but] Mary still has that incredibly snobbish edge to her.
"As much as she's grown and become more vulnerable, that side of her remains. I like seeing that."
Mary was last seen cradling her newborn baby just moments after she found out about the death of her husband, and Downton's Executive Producer Gareth Neame admits the brunette beauty's love life will play a huge part in the forthcoming fourth series.
He told the Daily Mail newspaper: "That was the hook we left the audience with at the end of the last series, with that very long-held shot of her with her newborn baby, not even knowing she's a widow. Inevitably, there is going to be male interest in this eligible, beautiful young widow.
"How she reacts, how people respond to her and how we see her move on in her life ... is going to be very interesting.
"The overall dynamic has always been about her future, whether it's the succession issue in the first series, who was going to be the right man to marry ... and knowing, as I do, where the story goes in the future, she will be at the heart of it."
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