Downton Abbey to make 'surprise return' with filming 'already underway'

ok.co.uk:

Downton Abbey will reportedly make a return to TV screens, eight years and two movies since its last series.The beloved period drama aired its final episode on Christmas Day 2015, and was then followed by two movie spin-offs in 2019 and 2022.The show, which was previously filmed at the lavish Highclere Castle in Hampshire, followed the aristocratic Crawley family, and their servants, throughout the societal changes and world events of the 1910s and 20s.The final episode saw Lady Edith (Laura Carmichael) finally tie the knot with Bertie (Harry Hadden-Patton), after she had been rather unlucky in love across the previous six seasons.

Revealing the news of the show's upcoming return, a source told the Daily Mail: "Filming has been going on for a few weeks now, it is all very, very secret.There are people working on it who have never seen secrecy like it. "Those working on the set have been made to sign non-disclosure agreements so that they don't give the game away but there is a lot of excitement at the return of Downton. "It was such a huge success before and there are so many more stories to be told, it seemed such a shame not to be able to make more of it but they've made it happen." OK!

have contacted representatives for Carnival Films, the production company behind Downton Abbey. It's unclear which cast members will be appearing in the new series, but the 2022 film Downton Abbey: A New Era, saw stars Hugh Bonneville, Michelle Dockery, and Elizabeth McGovern all make a return to the world of Downton.

Dame Maggie Smith also made a return to the role of Violet Crawley, Dowager Countess of Grantham, in 2022, but the movie saw her character pass away after falling ill.