Dan Stevens Left ‘Downton Abbey’ to Become Horror’s Best Creepy Leading Man

In Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett’s Abigail, the first of Dan Stevens’ 2024 horror movie appearances, the erstwhile Downton Abbey cast member has fun. He even says so on screen! “Where’s the fun in that?” he purrs to Melissa Barrera’s blood-soaked and bruised protagonist when she wonders why he won’t straight-up kill her. Not that the meta-confession is necessary, of course; Stevens’ tough affect and wry irritability plainly highlight his enjoyment in his role.

Stevens makes no such disclosure in Tilman Singer’s savage sophomore feature Cuckoo, but just as in Abigail, his performance handily expresses the raw delight he takes in the work. Abigail casts Stevens as Frank, an ex-cop and inveterate prick trapped in a mansion with a quintet of thieves designated as “dinner” for the centuries-old ballerina vampire who lives there; in Cuckoo, he plays Herr König, part-time operator of a resort in the German Alps, full-time “preservationist” to creatures with what may generously be described as “unorthodox” breeding habits.

For as wildly different as these characters are, they’re of a piece with one another in the context of Stevens’ filmography. After his 2012 departure from Downton Abbey, Stevens veered away from the predictable post-project career path, much as his character on the series, Matthew Crawley, veered his car into a ditch. He started taking parts in grittier genre films, like Scott Frank’s A Walk Among the Tombstones, where he co-starred with Liam Neeson in the midst of his late-stage action star pivot; more importantly he played the antagonist in Adam Wingard’s The Guest, essentially Captain America’s sociopathic cousin.

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