The second installment of the 2019 hit movie Downton Abbey is set to go, as announced during Universal’s slate presentation at CinemaCon in Las Vegas on Wednesday, August 25, 2021.

The sequel is titled Downton Abbey: A New Era, and it is slated for release early next year, on March 18, 2022.

During the official announcement event, the teaser footage that was exhibited showed the Crawley family and the household staff reunited as preparations were going on for an overseas journey.

"The British are coming," actor Jim Carter's character Mr. Carson said in the teaser.

The teaser also showed a lot of glitz, glamour, and jazz, along with some shots of a wedding ceremony. However, the teaser was limited, as it was only shown during the presentation with unclarity on when it will be available for the public to see.

'Downton Abbey: A New Era' Cast

According to reports, the original casts of the movie like Maggie Smith, Elizabeth McGovern, Hugh Bonneville, Michelle Dockery, Laura Charmichael, and Carter will be reprising their respective roles.

"Because we loved doing it so much, [when we wrapped] it was definitely that feeling like, Oh, we could do this again, and it would be wonderful to all get back together," English actress Dockery, who portrays Lady Mary, previously told Harper's Bazaar.

Likewise, actress Joanne Froggatt, who plays Anna Bates, shared her excitement for the sequel with the publication, saying, "I think this story can be never ending when you've got that many different characters, personalities, relationships—whether they be romantic or friendships or feuds."

In addition, new characters are to be introduced in the new era as Hugh Dancy, Nathalie Baye, Laura Haddock, and Dominic West are set to join the cast.

Production Team and Filming

Downton Abbey: A New Era will be directed by Emmy-nominated Simon Curtis, who replaced Michael Engler, the director of the first movie.

Curtis is a British film director and producer who has experience directing theatre productions and television dramas like David Copperfield and Cranford. He has also directed feature films, including the biographical dramas My Week with Marilyn and Woman in Gold.

Oscar-winner Julian Fellowes, who worked on the screenplay in Downton Abbey, will also continue his work in the sequel. Similarly, he will also produce the movie with Emmy Award-winning Liz Trubridge and BAFTA-winning Gareth Neame.

The sequel is being made under Carnival Films Production while Focus Features will distribute the film in the United States and Universal Pictures will distribute it internationally.

On August 13, the official Twitter handle of Focus Features shared over a minute-long video, hinting that the filming for the movie has been going on for some time now.

Plot and Movie's Timeline

The first edition of Downton Abbey was released on September 20, 2019, in the United States, following the huge success of the TV series of the same name that aired from 2010 to 2015.

The first Downton Abbey movie was a historical drama film that continued the same storyline from the TV show. The movie was set in 1927 and followed the visit of the King and Queen of England to the Crawley family in the Grantham estate.

The upcoming sequel will now catch up on the journey of the Crawley family and the household staff as they leave their country estate Downton Abbey to embark on a Grand Tour of Europe.