Downton Abbey is returning for its third and final chapter, according to The Crown’s Imelda Staunton. The actor, who played Queen Mary’s lady-in-waiting Maud Bagshaw in the first two movies, recently revealed on BBC Radio 2 that “there will be the final film.”
“There you go,” told host Zoe Ball. “Wow, that’s pretty huge. I hope we haven’t got you in trouble,” Ball replied, to which the actor quipped, “I don’t care.”
On March 21, Staunton’s Downton Abbey co-star Michelle Dockery (who played Lady Mary Crawley) responded to the revelation on BBC Radio 6. “There’s not much more I can tell ya! You’ll have to ask Julian,” she said, referring to the drama’s creator, Julian Fellowes.
Speaking to Radio Times in 2022, Fellowes said he’d be open to making another Downton Abbey movie should the fans want it. “You never know if more is going to be wanted,” he said at the time. “People talk about stage plays and further movies, but I think it will be made clear to me if there’s a strong demand, and if that’s what people want, then I won’t fight it.”
Downton Abbey producer, Gareth Neame, previously agreed with Fellowes’ stance, revealing on Variety’s Strictly Business podcast, “We can go on with these people as long as the audience wants to go on seeing them and as long as they enjoy them.”
The original Downton Abbey TV series aired for six seasons between 2010 and 2015. The acclaimed drama spawned two big-screen adaptations, 2019’s Downton Abbey and 2022’s Downton Abbey: A New Era, which earned a combined $287 million at the global box office.
The Sun claims that production on the third and final movie will commence in the summer of 2024. As for the film’s cast and plot, the sequel will reportedly be set in the late 1920s, and Oscar-nominee, Paul Giamatti, will reprise the character of Harold Levinson in the film, whom viewers last saw in the 2013 Downton Abbey Christmas special.
