For someone who had never seen a single moment of a Downton Abbey episode, I quite enjoyed the movie released in 2019. And like most of the show’s millions of fans the main thing it left me with was a burning desire for Maggie Smith’s Dowager Countess to prove not even death can fell an old battleaxe like her. Well, we’ll get to find out because a sequel is underway and has a release date.
Focus Features has announced the start of production on Downton Abbey 2, which will hit theaters this Christmas season on December 22nd. The original cast will be returning, so I’m assuming that includes Smith, along with new additions Hugh Dancy, Laura Haddock, Nathalie Baye, and Dominic West.
Downton Abbey creator Julian Fellowes will once again write the script, with Simon Curtis taking over as director. Curtis is known for his films My Week with Marilyn, Woman in Gold, Goodbye Christopher Robin, and most recently The Art of Racing in the Rain.
The previous film earned nearly $200M worldwide and rumblings about a sequel began soon after.
So where do things go from here? They’ve already been visited by the king and queen, right? What’s next? Maybe somebody accidentally breaks the good china? The silver hasn’t been polished in a week? The scandal!