It's been a long time coming, but the Downton Abbey movie is finally out this week and despite some mixed reviews, box office success is expected.
So naturally talk will turn to a potential sequel, and it seems that the creators of the movie are prepared for it. Talking to Digital Spy at the world premiere last night (September 9), producer Gareth Neame said that there was "a plan" for another outing.
Related: Downton Abbey movie review
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"We need the movie to do well. If it does really well and the fans vote with their feet. The challenge we have is that people all around the world have been used to watching it on television, but we need them to go out and buy a ticket and see it in cinemas," he added.
"We're percolating [ideas], back of the mind... We'll know soon and how popular it's been, or whether people just thought it was for the TV and that was that. I hope it's not the latter."
Series creator and writer Julian Fellowes added that they have "very loose ideas" for a sequel, adding: "I mean only so that we don't have to start from scratch if there is one. We know a direction we would go in, and who knows.
"It all depends on how the picture is received. If the audience like it enough, then there may be another one. If they don't, then there won't be."
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If they do manage to make a sequel, it sounds like they won't have any trouble bringing the cast back, as Phyllis Logan, Jim Carter and Michelle Dockery all seemed up for returning.
"If people love this. If this goes down well and people enjoy it, why not? It gives people a lot of pleasure, the television series gave a lot of pleasure, hopefully this film will. Why not do another one? It'd be a treat," Carter said.
Downton Abbey will be released on September 13 in the UK and on September 20 in the US.
![Downton Abbey: A New Era [DVD] [2022]](https://hips.hearstapps.com/vader-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/1659510494-51CjjzUrOaL._SL500_.jpg?crop=1xw:1xh;center,top&resize=980:* "Downton Abbey: A New Era [DVD] [2022]")
![Downton Abbey: The Movie [DVD]](https://hips.hearstapps.com/vader-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/1622112275-51EmMhleQL._SL500_.jpg?crop=1xw:1xh;center,top&resize=980:* "Downton Abbey: The Movie [DVD]")
![Downton Abbey - Series 1- 6 [DVD] [2015]](https://hips.hearstapps.com/vader-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/1565598027-51L35EzpOcL.jpg?crop=1xw:1xh;center,top&resize=980:* "Downton Abbey - Series 1- 6 [DVD] [2015]")
Universal Pictures/ITV/Carnival Films/WGBH-TV Downton Abbey - Series 1- 6 [DVD] [2015]
St. Martin's Griffin Downton Abbey - A Celebration: The Official Companion to All Six Seasons (World of Downton Abbey)
White Lion Publishing The Official Downton Abbey Cookbook
White Lion Publishing The Official Downton Abbey Cocktail Book
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Movies Editor, Digital Spy Ian has more than 10 years of movies journalism experience as a writer and editor. Starting out as an intern at trade bible Screen International, he was promoted to report and analyse UK box-office results, as well as carving his own niche with horror movies, attending genre festivals around the world. After moving to Digital Spy, initially as a TV writer, he was nominated for New Digital Talent of the Year at the PPA Digital Awards. He became Movies Editor in 2019, in which role he has interviewed 100s of stars, including Chris Hemsworth, Florence Pugh, Keanu Reeves, Idris Elba and Olivia Colman, become a human encyclopedia for Marvel and appeared as an expert guest on BBC News and on-stage at MCM Comic-Con. Where he can, he continues to push his horror agenda – whether his editor likes it or not.
