6:33 AM PDT 7/13/2018
by
Etan Vlessing
The original cast is set to return for the big-screen version of the hit TV series.
Fans of the Crawleys can officially rejoice: a Downton Abbey movie is finally happening.
Focus Features and Carnival Films are pacting to bring Downton Abbey and the lives of the Crawley family and its servants to the big screen. The original main cast from the hit TV series will return for the feature, which is set to shoot later this summer.
Also returning from the series is its creator, Oscar winner Julian Fellowes, who wrote the film’s screenplay and will produce alongside Gareth Neame and Liz Trubridge.
Downton Abbey, which concluded in 2015, portrays the lives of the aristocratic Crawley family in England and their servants amid the backdrop of such historic events as the sinking of the Titanic and World War I. It has become one of the most popular TV shows in the world, airing in at least 150 countries.
“When the television series drew to a close it was our dream to bring the millions of global fans a movie and now, after getting many stars aligned, we are shortly to go into production. Julian’s script charms, thrills and entertains and in Brian Percival’s hands we aim to deliver everything that one would hope for as Downton comes to the big screen,” Neame said in a statement.
Brian Percival, who directed the series’ pilot, will direct the film. Nigel Marchant will also return to executive produce.
The PBS series, which went off the air in 2015, is the most-nominated non-U.S. show in Emmy history, with 69 nominations and 15 wins. The Downton Abbey movie is a Carnivals Films production, with Focus Features and Universal Pictures International handling distribution.
As Downton Abbey fans waited for a planned feature film of the British hit series to be unveiled, NBCUniversal International Studios and Imagine Exhibitions have opened Downton Abbey: The Exhibition as another spin-off of the TV series.
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