Dan Stevens' 'Downtown Abbey' character originally had 'shocking' death

Actor Dan Stevens, who exited the popular TV series "Downtown Abbey" in 2012, has revealed that the showrunners had planned a more "shocking" death for his character.

The "Beauty and the Beast" star played the role of Matthew Crawley on the show and the character died in a car accident during the episode "A Journey to the Highlands".

"I remember he had a line like: 'I've never been happier in my life.' And then he stepped off a curb and was hit by a grocery lorry. It was too shocking - it was insane," Stevens told the Daily Mirror.

"You had people just running out of trailers saying: 'No way, no way!' And there was a sort of mass revolt that this was just too much," he added.

Steven recently reprised his role of mutant David Haller in the second season of "Legion".