Get ready to be dressed in your finest because the Crawleys are in the process of returning. To the big screen that is.
Focus Features has announced that production has already started on production on Downton Abbey 2, the second big screen spinoff of the popular ITV/PBS series.
According to a studio press release –
The original principal cast will all once again return for the second film which began production last week and is set to release Christmas 2021 on December 22, 2021. In addition to the original cast, Hugh Dancy, Laura Haddock, Nathalie Baye and Dominic West will join the cast. Downton creator Academy-Award® winner Julian Fellowes will once again write the film’s screenplay, with Emmy and BAFTA Award-winning Gareth Neame and Emmy Award-winning Liz Trubridge back to produce with Fellowes. BAFTA and Emmy nominated director Simon Curtis (My Week with Marilyn) will join the filmmaking team to direct the sequel.
And by original principal cast they mean at least Hugh Bonneville, Jim Carter, Laura Carmichael, Michelle Dockery and Dame Maggie Smith, according to the Hollywood Reporter. Other cast members have yet to be confirmed.
Plot details are being kept under wraps for the moment.
Created by writer Julian Fellows, charted the lives of the aristocratic Crawley family and their servants in the early decades of the 20th century of post-Edwardian era England. The series was an immediate hit and ran for six seasons between 2010 and 2015.=, garnering a number of Emmys, BAFTAs and other awards. The first feature film hit theaters in September 2019.
Downton Abbey 2 is set to arrive in theaters on December 22, 2021.
