James "Jimmy" Kent

Jimmy Kent arrives at Downton as a new footman, handsome and aware of it, with a chip on his shoulder about his place below stairs. He's ambitious, a little vain, quick to charm the maids and slower to earn the trust of the older servants, especially Thomas, who takes an obvious interest in him.

Speleers plays him as pretty rather than good, which is the point: the household keeps mistaking his looks for character. The writing uses him to complicate Thomas's loneliness and to show how easily charm curdles into cruelty when someone feels cornered by other people's expectations.