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Elizabeth McGovern says Downton Abbey was a musical set.
The 64-year-old actress revealed to PEOPLE at the New York City premiere of Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale that they had plenty of musical moments while filming the beloved series, noting that she would often bring her instruments on set and jam out with the rest of the cast.
“I used to [play music] during the series… because there was much more time to hang around. So yes, there was a lot of that,” McGovern shares.
She even got costars Michelle Dockery and Michael C. Fox to join her.
“And there’s a lot of singers and things. Michelle [and] Michael Fox [would sing],” she adds. “So, that’s been a lot of fun.”
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McGovern reveals that Dockery, who plays her daughter, Mary Crawley, on the series, even got to perform with her band — Sadie and the Hotheads — while they were filming the series, which encouraged the stars to start their own band on the set.
“That was early on, and then [Michelle] and Michael got together and they had a band, and they were performing, and you know, just having fun,” she adds.
In 2022, Dockery and Fox’s duo, called Michael & Michelle, dropped their debut EP, The Watching Silence.
The Ordinary People actress notes that the cast wasn’t able to jam out as much during the filming of their new movie Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale because “there wasn’t quite as much time.” However, she says the dedication and hard work they put into the film paid off.
“I feel so proud of this movie. I feel like it’s the best one we’ve done by far,” McGovern tells PEOPLE. “We’ve left on a very high note, in my opinion, in the sense of we’ve really created what — we’ve responded to what we feel that people love about the show and tried to give it to them because we appreciate their loyalty.”
“… So, this is for them, and I think given that brief, we’ve really done it well. I feel very proud of that,” she adds.
The new film, chronicling the Crawley family and their staff as they step into the 1930s and prepare a new generation to carry Downton Abbey forward, marks the poignant conclusion of McGovern’s 15-year journey in the Downton Abbey world — and it brought with it a lot of emotions.
“[The cast has] had a lot of tears and hugs, and we just had another round of it. We’re used to it now,” she says.
Still, she is sure she will see her fellow costars again, including Hugh Bonneville, who played her husband, Robert Crawley, in the series and films, and with whom she forged a strong bond.
“I’ll see him, you know, I know I will. I know it’s not the end,” she says. “It’s maybe the end of Robert and Cora, but not the end of Hugh and Elizabeth.”
Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale is out in theaters. For more from the cast, pick up PEOPLE’s new special edition Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale, available now.
