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Downton Abbey is officially hitting the big screen once again!
On Monday, May 13, Focus Features and Carnival Films announced a third installment of the beloved film franchise, spun off from the television series of the same name.
According to an official release, the movie will see the return of several favorites — including Hugh Bonneville, Elizabeth McGovern, Michelle Dockery and Laura Carmichael — as well as Paul Giamatti, Joely Richardson, Alessandro Nivola, Simon Russell Beale, Arty Froushan and more.
“Giamatti is reprising his role as Cora Grantham’s brother Harold Levinson,” according to the release, which adds, “Dominic West will also reprise his role as Guy Dexter from Downton Abbey: A New Era.”
Julian Fellowes, who created Downton Abbey and wrote the first two films, has penned the screenplay to this one as well, while A New Era director Simon Curtis will return to helm the new film.
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The news was announced alongside a video of the cast reuniting for the production, including Dockery, 42, as Lady Mary.
“It feels amazing. A tad emotional,” she said in the video. “It’s wonderful all to be back together again. You come back together and it’s like no time has passed at all.”
Set in the early 20th century, the Downton Abbey TV series takes place between 1912 and 1926, and follows the lives of the aristocratic Crawley family in the U.K., as well as that of their servants. The show ran for six seasons, from 2010 to 2015.
The first Downton Abbey film (2019) picks up where the series left off, in 1927, while the 2022 sequel — Downton Abbey: A New Era — takes place directly after, in 1928.
Downton Abbey: A New Era.
One of Downton’s stars, Imelda Staunton previously spilled the beans to BBC Radio 2 breakfast show host Zoe Ball when asked about reports that more would be coming.
“There will be the final film — there you go,” said Staunton, 68, on the show in March.
“Wow, that’s pretty huge. I hope we haven’t got you in trouble,” joked Ball, to which the actress (who plays Lady Maud Bagshaw in the movies) quipped in response, “I don’t care.”
Also returning for the new film are Jim Carter, Phyllis Logan, Robert James-Collier, Joanne Froggatt, Allen Leech, Penelope Wilton, Lesley Nicol, Michael Fox, Raquel Cassidy, Brendan Coyle, Kevin Doyle, Harry Hadden-Paton, Sophie McShera and Douglas Reith, per the release.
