Grace Cox wrote:
I know. Michael's return is probably never going to happen, but I think it should! Somehow he gets free from who/what has prevented him from letting Edith know he is alive. She brings him back to London and finds him in a terrible state having been kept prisoner in terrible conditions. He is elated to meet his daughter. He and Edith are wed as soon as he is healthy again and back to normal. He and Edith run his business with great success. They have another child, a boy this time. Their storyline is kept going with frequent visits to Downton and also by following the other characters frequent visits to London. Michael is very supportive of Edith's career as a writer of issues of the day.
If he returned and season 6 turned out to be the last one, I think this would be a good way to play it out, with the addition of news that Michael's insane wife was in a fatal accident at the asylum. Certainly drama and tension could stem from Edith helping Michael recover from his ordeal; no doubt he would have nightmares. Perhaps Michael writing a novel would be a way to help him. Certainly it would be nice for them to enjoy the experience of childbirth together. Either way, as previously mentioned, Edith moving to London is the option if Laura Carmichael wishes to move on to other things.