“Downton Abbey 3” is officially happening!
A third film in the popular British historical drama franchise was confirmed by Focus Features on Monday.
Julian Fellowes, who created the beloved television series that spawned the films, is writing the new movie. Simon Curtis, the director of the second film, “Downton Abbey: A New Era,” will also helm the third film.
Various cast members are returning including Hugh Bonneville, Elizabeth McGovern, Michelle Dockery, Laura Carmichael, Jim Carter, Phyllis Logan, Robert James-Collier, Joanne Froggatt, Allen Leech, and more.
Dominic West will also return as Guy Dexter from the second movie.
Paul Giamatti is joining the film to reprise his TV role as Harold Levinson, the brother of McGovern’s Cora Grantham.
Giamatti, 56, played Harold for the Christmas special in 2013.
Joely Richardson, Alessandro Nivola, Simon Russell Beale and Arty Frousha are also among the cast additions.
The “Downton Abbey” Instagram page released a video of the cast reuniting to begin production.
“It feels amazing. A tad emotional,” Dockery, 42, said in the footage. “It’s wonderful all to be back together again. You come back together and it’s like no time has passed at all. We’re so happy to announce that we’re in production for the third ‘Downton Abbey’ movie. We can’t wait to see you.”
Plot details and a release date for “Downton Abbey 3” have yet to be confirmed.
The Sun previously reported that the cast will begin shooting this summer at Highclere Castle in Hampshire, England, for a 2025 debut.
The latest news didn’t come as a total shock to fans since actress Imelda Staunton — who played Lady Maud Bagshaw in the first two movies — let the news slip back in March.
“There will be the final film — there you go,” Staunton, 68, dished on BBC Radio 2 at the time.
Staunton was not announced as one of the actors appearing in in the third film.
“Downton Abbey” ran until 2015, across five seasons, taking the influential Crawley clan and their estate servants throughout the turmoil of the 1910s and 1920s.
The series was nominated for 69 Emmy Awards and won 15, including Outstanding Hairstyling for a Single Camera Series four times.
Two big-screen adaptions based on the show were released in 2019 and 2022.
The films grossed $194 million and $92.7 million, respectively, at the worldwide box office.
Last year, Fellowes, 74, teased that he was interested in doing another “Downton Abbey” movie.
“I have said goodbye to ‘Downton’ so many times, and I have written the last scene about six or seven times,” he said on TalkRadio. “Now, I’ve got out of the habit of making permanent statements about whether it’s gone. It just gives me a lot of pleasure that so many people enjoyed it, so to feel that you created a show that cheers people up and they had a good time with it, I love that.”
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