Julian Fellowes to pen Downton Abbey sequel after writing The Guilded Age

Last Updated on July 30, 2021

Arriving several years after the sixth and final season of the television series, DOWNTON ABBEY reintroduced us to the Crawley family and the opulence of the titular location. I honestly wasn't sure how well a feature-film version of the TV series would fare, but the low-budget film went on to gross $192 million worldwide and received largely positive reviews, which, as we know, spells sequel in just about any language.

Shortly after the successful release of DOWNTON ABBEY, producer Gareth Neame teased that they were already having conversations about a possible sequel. "We're working on what the story is, and when we might be able to make it," Neame said. "But it's the same as the first time around: We have to try to get everyone back together again. And that was very challenging." While speaking during the Television Critics Association's winter press-tour, Downton Abbey creator Julian Fellowes confirmed that he would be penning a script for a sequel to the feature-film, but it won't be until after he's finishing shooting The Gilded Age. "Give us a break, gov," Fellowes joked when asked when he'd start writing the DOWNTON ABBEY sequel. "Not until I've finished the scripts for The Gilded Age." As a fan of both the Downton Abbey series and the film, I'd certainly be down for another resplendent dinner with the Crawley family.

As for The Gilded Age, production on the ten-episode HBO series is expected to kick off later this year, with Fellowes adding that the series is in "reasonably good shape" and that he was pleased with the cast, which includes Christine Baranski (The Good Fight), Cynthia Nixon (Sex and the City), Amanda Peet (Brockmire), and Morgan Spector (The Plot Against America). The Gilded Age begins in 1885, a period of immense economic change where huge fortunes were made and lost and the disparity between old money and new money was made all the more apparent. We follow young Marian Brook, "the orphaned daughter of a Southern general, who moves into the home of her rigidly conventional aunts in New York City. Accompanied by the mysterious Peggy Scott, an African-American woman masquerading as her maid, Marian gets caught up in the dazzling lives of her stupendously rich neighbors, led by a ruthless railroad tycoon and his ambitious wife struggling for acceptance by the Astor and Vanderbilt set."