By Flora Carr

Published: Thursday, 11 November 2021 at 12:00 am

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Downton Abbey fans, get your diaries out — the film sequel’s distributors, Focus Features, have now confirmed a release date.

Downton Abbey: A New Era will be released in March 2022, rather than the expected Christmas release, but new first-look images of the characters in action should tide fans over until then.

Hugh Bonneville previously confirmed a Downton Abbey sequel was in the works, and the film will star a slate of new cast members, including Dominic West (The Pursuit of Love).

In addition to the returning main cast, Hugh Dancy (Hannibal), Laura Haddock (Guardians of the Galaxy), Nathalie Baye (The Assistant) and West will all join Downton Abbey for its sequel feature.

Bonneville, who plays Lord Grantham, previously said that the Downton team “would love” to make a second film – before revealing that a script for it already existed.

“There won’t be any more TV episodes, but we would love to make another movie. There is a script, it has been written and seen, but a little thing called coronavirus got in the way of us filming it. It would be lovely to think that later this year the cameras could start rolling,” he said during an interview on The One Show in February 2021.

Read on for everything you need to know about the second Downton Abbey film.

Downton Abbey 2 release date

Downton Abbey fans will be thrilled to hear that a new cinematic release date of Friday 18th March 2022 has been announced for the hotly anticipated film.

The film distributors originally scheduled to premiere in time for Christmas 2021, but the movie’s release date was pushed to the following year after delays in production due to the pandemic.

Downton Abbey 2 plot

Plot details are being kept under wraps for now, and will depend on which cast members return for the series.

In addition to Hugh Bonneville, Mr Carson actor Jim Carter previously told us that he, too, would be open to a second movie. If the film makes lots of money, “I’m sure there will be pressure to do more,” he said. “We don’t know, we don’t have any plans, but… if people turn out and make gazillions – who knows?”

Imelda Staunton exclusively told RadioTimes.com that she would “of course” love to reprise her role as Lady Maud Bagshaw if there were a sequel.

The actress, who was cast as the third iteration of Queen Elizabeth II in Netflix’s The Crown, said that Downton “was a very nice job to do,” before adding: “It’s a woman with a nice arc, and a backstory that wasn’t just a woman in a tiara and a long dress.”

“I’ve worked with Maggie [Smith, who plays Lady Violet Crawley] before and I’ve worked with Penelope Wilton [Isobel Crawley] before so you know, we know each other well,” she said.

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Ben Blackall/ © 2021 Focus Features, LLC

Downton Abbey 2 cast

We can probably expect most of the major cast members to return, including Lady Edith actress Laura Carmichael, and her on-screen sister Michelle Dockery (Lady Mary).

However, there’s a question mark hovering over the beloved character of Lady Violet Crawley, Dowager Countess of Grantham (Maggie Smith), as at the end of the last film she was contemplating her own mortality.

Hugh Dancy (Hannibal), Laura Haddock (Guardians of the Galaxy), Nathalie Baye (The Assistant) and Dominic West (The Affair) will also join the cast.

Downton Abbey 2 trailer

Downton Abbey has given fans a glimpse of the second, hotly anticipated film, showing the Crawley family preparing for Tom Branson and Lucy Smith’s big day. Watch the 15 second teaser below.