If you’ve been thirsting for a taste of British aristocracy, then you’re in luck! Nearly three years after the series finale of beloved TV drama Downton Abbey, the show is headed to the big screen.
The show’s movie version was confirmed on the official Downton Abbey Twitter account on Friday morning.
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Most of the show’s principal cast will be returning for the movie, including Dame Maggie Smith, who played the acidic Dowager Countess Violet Crawley. Michelle Dockery (Lady Mary Crawley) and Hugh Bonneville (Robert Crawley, Earl of Grantham) will also be returning.
Series star Joanne Froggatt (who played the sweet Anna Smith) tweeted her excitement about the news.
Dockery posted to her Instagram, saying she was “thrilled” about the announcement.
Shooting will begin this summer, and the movie’s script is written by Downton creator and TV scribe Julian Fellowes. Brian Percival, who has directed multiple episodes of Downton, is helming the movie.
The rumour of a Downton film has been circulating for some time.
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Fellowes, for his part, always supported the idea of a big-screen offshoot.
“I hope there will be a film,” he said in a May 2016 interview with IndieWire. “There is an audience for a film. I’d structure a narrative with lots of things happening, but we would need a kind of unity to make a feature, which is a challenge for me. It would be a bigger canvas: a riot could be a real riot, the ball a real ball. I would like that, I think it would be fun.”
Downton fans — most of whom are diehard, dedicated watchers — were overjoyed at the news.
Downton Abbey follows the tumultuous lives of the wealthy Crawley family and the servants who work for them. Over six seasons, the show got up close and personal with both, intertwining the lives of the elite and the workers in a deliciously addictive way.
The series was nominated for numerous awards, including three Golden Globes, 15 Emmy Awards and a Special BAFTA Award. It also holds the prestigious title of the most nominated non-American TV show in Emmys history with 69 nominations.
So far, there’s no word on the movie’s plotline or release date.
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