The *Downton Abbey* Movie Officially Has a Release Date
Much to the delight of Anglophiles everywhere, the much anticipated Downton Abbey movie has a confirmed release date—and it’s just a year away. The movie is set to premiere in the U.S. on Friday, September 20, 2019. However, in the event you head out of the country sometime during that month, the premiere date in European countries will be a full week earlier, on Friday, September 13. Superfans, you know what to do!
“Since the series ended, fans of Downton have long been waiting for the Crawley family’s next chapter,” a Focus Features chairman said in a statement to confirm the date. “We’re thrilled to join this incredible group of filmmakers, actors, and craftspeople, led by Julian Fellowes and Gareth Neame, in bringing back the world of Downton to the big screen next September.”
Unsurprisingly, despite the film being announced earlier this summer, barely anything is known about what to expect in terms of narrative, setting, or era. (But you wouldn’t actually want it spoiled, would you now?) It has started to film, though, with all of the principal cast members coming back for another round of upstairs-downstairs fun. There are way too many to list, but your faves Michelle Dockery, Maggie Smith, Hugh Bonneville, Laura Carmichael, Jim Carter, and Joanne Froggatt are all on board.
The one character we definitely won’t be seeing, though? The vivacious Lady Rose, who’s played by Lily James. “I would have loved to have come back for a scene, but for a movie it can’t be like a Christmas special, and it needs to be a focused storyline,” James told People in a recent interview. “There was no space for Rose.”
To greatly paraphrase the iconic Dowager Countess: What is a movie? In this case, we can’t wait to find out.
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