Downton Abbey is coming back for a third movie, with new and returning faces confirmed in all-star cast

The fictitious Crawley family and their servants running a sprawling English country estate in the early 20th century are returning for a third Downton Abbey movie, which will feature old and new faces.

The award-winning show gained a huge following after it first aired as a television series in 2010. It went on for six seasons and was followed by two films, released in 2019 and 2022.

In a statement on Monday, Universal Pictures, Focus Features and Carnival Films said series creator Julian Fellowes had written the third film in the Downton Abbey franchise and that many original cast members, including Hugh Bonneville and Elizabeth McGovern — who play patriarch Robert Crawley and his wife Cora, respectively — would return for the new movie.

Oscar nominee Paul Giamatti and Joely Richardson, most recently seen in Netflix series The Gentlemen, join the cast with the former playing Cora’s brother brother Harold Levinson, the statement added. Giamatti played the character in a Christmas special.

The Crown star Dominic West, who played actor Guy Dexter in the 2022 film Downton Abbey: A New Era, will reprise the role in the new movie.

Simon Curtis will also return as director after helming the second movie.

A short video was uploaded by Universal Pictures on Monday showcasing the all-star cast of new and familiar faces assembling for what may have been a read-through.

Bonneville, McGovern, Giamatti and West joined Michelle Dockery, Phyllis Logan, Robert James-Collier, Joanne Froggatt, Penelope Wilton, Lesley Nicol, and more in the teaser video posted to Instagram.

“It feels amazing. A tad emotional,” Dockery said in the video.

“It’s wonderful to all be back together again. You come back together and it’s like no time has passed at all.”

New cast members also include Joely Richardson, Alessandro Nivola, Simon Russell Beale, and Arty Froushan.

Series creator Julian Fellowes has kept details of the plot to the third movie plot under wraps, but has not ruled out Downton Abbey returning to the small screen.

“I have said goodbye to Downton so many times, and I have written the last scene about six or seven times. Now, I’ve got out of the habit of making permanent statements about whether it’s gone,” he said in 2023.

“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.”