Downton Abbey's Hugh Bonneville talks spin-off show possibilities

He plays Lord Grantham in the series

Author: Hazel ScottPublished 18th Aug 2022
Last updated 18th Aug 2022

Fans of period drama Downton Abbey were disappointed when the show came to an end after six seasons in 2015. To fan's delight, the story has continued in two different films, Downton Abbey and A New Era which came out earlier this year. Actor Hugh Bonneville, who plays Lord Grantham, has now spoken out to say that a third film is unlikely, but a spin-off show may happen.

"I know there's a whole world of fandom that creates all the fictions of what happened before, or after and sideways from our stories, but there's only really one story creator and that is Julian Fellowes, so I don't know where he would take his characters next or which aspect of these characters' lives he'd like to explore," he told Radio Times.

Hugh continued: "That's up to him, if indeed there are any more iterations to come. But I can see that there’s a whole world of renewed interest in this era, certainly in the last 10 years there’s been a revived interest in historical drama.

"And so there are any number of avenues that could be explored."

This comes after the latest film showed more of the Crawley family than fans had known of before as they travelled to the South of France, to which Hugh commented: "That was a really lovely new direction for the story to go.

"And obviously it took us overseas, which was even more fun. Julian draws on so many different strands of his own experience and other stories, and weaves them all together into these tapestries that he does to give everyone a little moment in the sun. And for Robert to be able to question his own existence in a way was really interesting."

As well as fan favourites like Maggie Smith and Elizabeth McGovern returning to the cast, the film also introduced new faces Dominic West, Laura Haddock and Hugh Dancy who played actors and a director filming a silent movie called The Gambler at the Downton estate.

We would love to see the Crawley family's story continue in a Downton Abbey spin-off show!

Take a look at the character posters from Downton Abbey: A New Era

Hugh Bonneville as Robert Crawley, 7th Earl of Grantham and Elizabeth McGovern as Cora Crawley, Countess of Grantham


Michelle Dockery as Lady Mary Talbot and Maggie Smith as Violet Crawley, Dowager Countess of Grantham


Harry Hadden-Paton as Herbert Pelham, 7th Marquess of Hexham and Laura Carmichael as Edith Pelham, Marchioness of Hexham


Jim Carter as Charles Carson and Phyllis Logan as Elsie Hughes


Joanne Froggatt as Anna Bates and Brendan Coyle as John Bates


Lesley Nicol as Beryl Patmore and Sophie McShera as Daisy Mason


Michael C. Fox as Andrew 'Andy' Parker and Rob James-Collier as Thomas Barrow


Allen Leech as Tom Branson and Matthew Goode as Henry Talbot


Douglas Reith as Richard Grey, Baron Merton and Penelope Wilton as Isobel Grey, Baroness Merton


Kevin Doyle as Joseph Molesley and Raquel Cassidy as Phyllis Baxter


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