Jack Lowden received a memorable welcome from Colin Firth and Matthew Macfadyen after taking on the role of Mr. Darcy in Netflix’s new Pride and Prejudice. The two actors, who have each left their own mark on Austen’s famously reserved romantic hero, wrote to Lowden with a simple message. Lowden had already been announced as Darcy opposite Emma Corrin’s Elizabeth Bennet in Netflix’s six-part adaptation, directed by Euros Lyn and written by Dolly Alderton.

Lowden is now stepping into that well-established lineage, and apparently, his predecessors were keen to make the handover unusually cordial.

The story surfaced through Elizabeth Banks, who discussed her connection to Matthew Macfadyen during an April 2026 interview with Bustle’s One Nightstand. Banks was speaking about books, acting and her career when the conversation turned to working opposite Macfadyen, who played Mr. Darcy in Joe Wright’s 2005 Pride & Prejudice. She then shared the anecdote about Jack Lowden, explaining that Macfadyen had told her that he and Colin Firth had written to the actor after his casting. 

“Welcome to the party. You’re the new version,” they reportedly told him.

As per Bustle, Banks called the gesture sweet, adding that they are such gentlemen. That small gesture also says something about the unusual lineage attached to Darcy, a character whose screen history has made each new interpretation part of a much larger conversation. Lowden is entering that conversation with a career of his own behind him, including one of television’s most closely followed ensemble dramas.

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For Lowden, then, Darcy represents another distinct turn in a career already defined by sharply different roles. 

Jack Lowden’s casting as Darcy opposite Emma Corrin’s Elizabeth Bennet marked another major literary adaptation for the Scottish actor, but it arrived after several years in which Slow Horses had become a defining part of his screen work. As River Cartwright, Lowden has occupied the younger end of the Apple TV+ spy thriller’s ensemble, playing an ambitious MI5 agent whose career repeatedly collides with Gary Oldman’s notoriously abrasive Jackson Lamb. The series has now been confirmed for an eighth season, extending the show’s run even further.

That makes the Firth and Macfadyen letter particularly fitting. Lowden is not simply inheriting a famous romantic lead from two previous actors; he is adding Darcy to a body of work that already includes espionage, historical drama and contemporary character pieces. With Firth’s BBC Darcy and Macfadyen’s 2005 interpretation remaining reference points for Austen fans, the new Netflix adaptation has another version of the character to introduce.

While Lowden already has a rather charming welcome from the men who wore the coat before him, if Firth and Macfadyen’s letter is any indication, he has entered the Austen tradition with the blessing of two actors who know exactly what comes with the territory.

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What do you think of Colin Firth and Matthew Macfadyen’s message to Jack Lowden? Share your thoughts in the comments.