A second Downton Abbey movie will hit theatres this December

Highclere Castle is throwing open its doors once again to the cast and crew of Downton Abbey for a second film spinoff of the popular television period drama promised for this December. The new movie will feature much of the show’s original cast plus a handful of new actors and their characters.

Hugh Bonneville, Jim Carter, Michelle Dockery, Elizabeth McGovern, Maggie Smith (!!!), Imelda Staunton, Laura Carmichael, and Penelope Wilton are all officially returning to the upstairs/downstairs drama of Downton, while according to her enthusiastic tweet, Joanna Froggart is as well. 

New cast members joining this time around include Dominic West (The Affair), Hugh Dancy (Hannibal), Laura Haddock (Guardians of the Galaxy), and Nathalie Baye (Catch Me If You Can).

The film will begin production this month and is scheduled for release on December 22, 2021. Series creator Julian Fellows will write the screenplay while the director of the first Downton movie, Simon Curtis, will return to helm the project. 

"After a very challenging year with so many of us separated from family and friends, it is a huge comfort to think that better times are ahead and that next Christmas we will be reunited with the much-beloved characters of Downton Abbey," said the film’s producer Gareth Neame in a release announcing the project (via People).

The last time Downton Abbey was on the big screen, the Crawleys were welcoming their most esteemed guests yet: the King and Queen of England, George V and Mary.

Set in 1927, the 2019 film pitted the staff of Downton against the household staff of the monarchy, creating complete chaos in the manor. To make matters even more dramatic, an assassin was in their midst targeting the royal couple. The assassination plot was thwarted, new romantic connections were formed, and the lineage of a possible new heir to Downton was revealed.

All that drama happened as the future of the Abbey and other similar grand English houses were being called into question during a period of rapid modernization. All of the above makes for fertile ground for a sequel — which the cast themselves said they were open to when the 2019 film premiered.

“It's sort of a complete downer because there's not another one next week,” said Bonneville at the time. “There is an appetite and an affection for it that hopefully we can satisfy in the future."

And so they will.

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