DOWNTON: IT’S ON
Original cast to reunite as movie is confirmed
IT’S official - a Downton Abbey movie is in the works with the original star cast of the TV series reuniting for the film.
Producers said that the “original principal cast” from the period drama will return for the movie, to begin production later this summer.
Downton’s creator Julian Fellowes wrote the new screenplay and will also co-produce the hotly anticipated film.
The announcement has followed fevered speculation about when the ITV drama, starring Hugh Bonneville, Michelle Dockery, Dame Maggie Smith, Laura Carmichael, Jim Carter and others, would make it to the big-screen.
Dockery, who played Lady Mary Crawley, wrote on Instagram: “The secret’s out... Thrilled to announce that Downton Abbey is coming to the big screen.”
Joanne Froggatt, who played Anna Bates, tweeted a snap of herself alongside Dockery and Dame Maggie (who played Lady Crawley), writing: “Delighted to announce we’re getting the band back together!”
Brian Percival, whose credits include The Book Thief and About A Girl and who directed the series’ pilot, will helm the film.
Downton Abbey followed the lives of the Crawley family and the servants who worked for them at the turn of the 20th Century in an Edwardian English country home.
The final episode aired on December 25, 2015 on ITV.