A feature-length Downton Abbey movie has long been in the works, but it looks like 2018 is the year it will finally go into production.
Actress Phyllis Logan, who played housekeeper Mrs. Hughes from the first episode right until the final one aired in 2015, let slip at the weekend (December 31) that the cast have been asked about their diaries this year.
“Everyone’s been asked what’s going on between this date and that date,” Phyllis told the Mail on Sunday. “So we just hope that all the elements – because there are so many – come together.
“To have a last hurrah with all the characters, going back to the castle and seeing all the old muckers will be fantastic. I’m certainly up for it.”
Us too, Phyllis, us too — although we’re not sure if Dame Maggie Smith shares our enthusiasm. The “castle” in question, though, is Highclere Castle in Berkshire, England — better known to viewers as the titular abbey — which the newspaper noted is due to be closed to visitors this year for what’s believed to be “exterior and interior filming.”
Curiouser and curiouser. Not only that, but a script by series creator Julian Fellowes is apparently already doing the rounds.
“There’s a potential script coming our way, slightly rewritten,” Phyllis added.
All in all, the signs are looking good, even if Downton‘s stars have been pretty busy since the show left our screens two years ago. Phyllis’s co-stars Hugh Bonneville, Brendan Coyle, Joanne Froggatt, and Michelle Dockery are popping up all over the place, such as Paddington 2, upcoming drama Requiem, thriller Liar, and Netflix’s addition to the western, Godless, with Phyllis herself due to appear in new show Girlfriends, which makes its debut on U.K. TV tomorrow (January 3).
Fingers crossed they can make their schedules work, because if cameras really do start rolling this year, we can expect a film in 2019.
Are you counting down the days already?