Look who’s back. Downton Abbey will return for a feature-film revival, three years after the period drama came to an end on PBS.
“Welcome back to Downton! We’re thrilled to announce that #DowntonAbbey is coming to the big screen. Film production begins this summer,” the official account for the show tweeted on Friday, July 13, sharing a photo of a butler holding a platter with an invite on it. “We cordially invite you to return to Downton Abbey, only in cinemas,” the invitation read.
The original cast is set to return as is writer Julian Fellowes, who will executive produce the film with Gareth Neame, Liz Trubridge and Nigel Marchant. The director of the 2010 pilot, Brian Percival, will direct the movie.
Welcome back to Downton! We’re thrilled to announce that #DowntonAbbey is coming to the big screen. Film production begins this summer. pic.twitter.com/3scMUmosic
— Downton Abbey (@DowntonAbbey) July 13, 2018
“When the television series drew to a close it was our dream to bring the millions of global fans a movie and now, after getting many stars aligned, we are shortly to go into production,” Neame said in a statement on Friday. “Julian’s script charms, thrills and entertains and in Brian Percival’s hands we aim to deliver everything that one would hope for as Downton comes to the big screen.”
Michelle Dockery (Lady Mary Crawley), Joanne Froggatt (Anna Bates) Maggie Smith (Violet) and Hugh Bonneville (Robert Crawley) are among the cast set to return.
In December 2017, Us Weekly caught up with Dockery and she revealed that if the rumored movie did happen she has no expectations. “Julian is the one with the pen. But the rumors keep continuing and I think it’s only a positive sign that people aren’t quite done with it,” she told Us, also adding that she never took any memorabilia from the show. “If we do do the movie, I’m going to seize the opportunity!”
The original series ran for six seasons from 2010 to 2015, earning three Golden Globe Awards and 15 Primetime Emmy Awards. It also is the most nominated non-U.S. series in the history of the Emmys with 69 nods.
