North Hampshire's Highclere Castle to star again in Downton Abbey movie
Lord and Lady Carnarvon to host stars for a second Downton Abbey movie due out at Christmas
Last updated 19th Apr 2021
Highclere Castle is to star again in a second Downton Abbey movie which will be back in cinemas this Christmas.
The first film starred Dame Maggie Smith, Hugh Bonneville, Laura Carmichael, Jim Carter, Michelle Dockery and Elizabeth McGovern.
Producers said the new movie will feature the original cast, as well as Hugh Dancy, Laura Haddock, Nathalie Baye and Dominic West.
Gareth Neame, the film’s producer and executive chairman of Carnival Films, said:
“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.”
The film, penned once again by Julian Fellowes, began production last week and is set to release on December 22.
The first movie, in 2019, followed a royal visit to the Crawley family and Downton staff.
The hugely popular TV series aired on ITV from 2010 to 2015 and followed the fortunes of the aristocratic Crawley family and their downstairs servants at a Yorkshire country estate.
Simon Curtis, whose credits include My Week With Marilyn, will direct the sequel.
Bonneville, who plays the Earl of Grantham, previously said coronavirus kept creating obstacles for the planning of the sequel.
“We’d love to do it and there is a great intent, but a little thing called coronavirus keeps getting in the way,” he told The Graham Norton Show.
“It would be super to think that sometime this year the cameras would roll, because a Downton-type cheery movie would be very welcome in cinemas when they reopen eventually.
“There is a script, but not all the ducks are in a row yet – they are certainly not in the pond.”
Highclere Castle is the real life home of Lord and Lady Carnarvon and set in a 5000 acre estate on the border of Hampshire and Berkshire.
Lady Carnarvon wrote in her latest blog: "After such a challenging year, the announcement of a second Downtown Abbey film is the perfect tonic. A bit of light relief, a soupcon of suspense, a bit of fizz and froth, tiaras, beads and bangles: something positive to look forward to and talk about. It is also a bit of a relief for all of us that it is now official as we have done our best to evade the guessing, surmising, wondering and leading questions and not to let the news of the film slip out inadvertently."