After maintaining a good move on ITV in the UK and PBS in the US, Downton Abbey finally made the leap to the giant screen in 2019 with a motion picture that proceeded the storylines of the aristocratic Crawley family and the interesting people who work for them—and fans were ecstatic.
That film received critical acclaim—as well as an incredible $194 million in worldwide box office receipts—so it was no shock that a Downton Abbey sequel was greenlit, with production set to begin in April 2021, as the COVID-19 pandemic started to disappear.
Then what will a 2nd Downton Abbey movie have in store for everyone’s favorite British royals, when will it start happening, who will come back, and will any new faces join the fray? This is everything we know about Downton Abbey 2, also known as Season 2. A New Era in Downtown Abbey
Is a Downton Abbey 2 Trailer Available?
On November 10, 2021, Focus Features released the first teaser for Downton Abbey: A New Era. The 15-second teaser, set to the ravishing theme music of Downton Abbey, includes darting shots of the titular abbey as well as got a glimpse of Tom Branson’s marriage!
A lengthier teaser trailer will then be released in theatres the weekend of November 12, preceding some other Attention Features release, director Kenneth Branagh’s Belfast, starring Jamie Dornan and Caitriona Balfe.
When will Downton Abbey 2 be available?
Downton Abbey 2 got an official wide release date of December 22, 2021, after Focus Features’ Twitter account made a promise that it would be “in theatres Christmas 2021.” However, due to the pandemic, that date has been pushed back; the latest updated release date for Downton Abbey: A New Era is March 18, 2022.
On Which Dates the Live Streaming Is Scheduled?
In an April 2021 tweet, Concentrate Features clarified that “the whole Downton cast” would come back for Downton Abbey 2. PEOPLE reported in November 2021, when the movie’s first teaser trailer was published, that “Maggie Smith, Hugh Bonneville, Elizabeth McGovern, Laura Carmichael, and Jim Carter” would all reprise their Downton Abbey positions in the sequel. We also know that Michelle Dockery will reprise her role as the widowed and get married to Lady Mary Talbot (née Crawley), as will Tom Cullen as Lord Gillingham.
Tuppence Middleton, who played Lucy Smith in the first film, announced on Twitter that she will reprise her role in the sequel. Hugh Dancy, Laura Haddock, Nathalie Baye, and Dominic West, new members of Downton Abbey, will make a guest appearance for the film franchise.
No information has been released about who the new cast members will be playing, such as whether they’ll be rubbing elbows with the wealthy Crawleys or scrubbing saucepans with the employees in the sprawling estate’s lower levels.
Even before the first Downton Abbey film hit theatres, rumors of a future season circulated. Before the film’s September 2019 release, producer Gareth Neame informed The Hollywood Reporter that if the movie did well, he’d be happy to make a second installment. “We’ve got some ideas for what we might do next,” Neame said, “if that happens.”
Following the film’s production, the Downton Abbey team quickly started discussing sequel possible outcomes. Downton Abbey creator Julian Fellowes told Entertainment Weekly pretty soon after the film’s release that it would likely follow the lead of the sequence and the first film, albeit with a bit of a flashforward.
“We would wait a little longer for things to assist in resolving themselves,” he said, referring to the time lapse between both the end of the first film and the start of the second, “but I don’t think we would go in a new direction.”
Downton Abbey 2 Plot
Fellowes told PEOPLE in November 2021 that Downton Abbey 2 is “indeed a new era,” as the title suggests. The more the ’20s progressed, the further the world changed in so many ways. By the end of the 1920s, everything from enjoyment to transportation had changed dramatically.”
He also described the new chapter as an “unashamedly feel-good movie” that picks up where the first Downton Abbey film left off. “As we saw in the previous film, Mary is not the protagonist head of the household, but she effectively runs the show.”
“We take it a step further,” Fellowes added. “We’re trying to mark the transition—the fact that the Crawleys of Downton are almost in the 1930s, which is just the foundation of the modern world.”
However, depending on the conclusion of the first film, many plot lines appear to be ready for the sequel adventure. Obviously, Violet Crawley’s illness is lurking, but there is also Daisy and Andy’s marriage, Edith’s new baby, and the prospect of Thomas Barrow finally establishing a good relationship.
But this being Downton Abbey, we’re sure there will be plenty more surprises that none of us will see coming.
