Julian Fellowes won’t start writing ‘Downton Abbey’ sequel for quite a while

In news that will surprise nobody, a second Downton film is definitely happening!

Rumours about a sequel were floating around even before the first movie topped the box office upon its release and became a huge commercial success.

Downton Abbey creator Julian Fellowes admitted recently that a second movie was never part of his original plan, revealing that he “thought the movie was definitely the end of the whole thing.”

However, it’s not the end for the Crawley family just yet, as he gave an update on the film’s follow-up while taking part in a Winter TCA press tour session to promote his upcoming series Belgravia.

Asked when he’d be starting to write the script for Downton sequel, Fellowes joked: “Give us a break, gov. Not until I’ve finished the scripts for The Gilded Age.”

The Gilded Age is Fellows’ brand new American period drama series for HBO, set in New York in 1885.

The writer previously commented: “It has been a dream of mine for some time, as I am fascinated by this brutal and intensely glamorous period of America’s history.”

He added: “It will be about ambition, of course, and envy and hatred and, perhaps most of all, about love. I hope people will enjoy the series. I know I will enjoy making it.”

The ten-part series was first announced several years ago and was originally set to premiere in autumn 2019 on NBC.

Filming on The Gilded Age is finally due to begin this summer, so we can expect Fellowes to put pen to paper on the return to Downton in late 2020.

It was claimed last October that Fellowes had already been told to start writing the second Downton Abbey movie, but those reports appear to have been somewhat premature!

The Downton Abbey sequel is expected to begin filming in 2021, ahead of a release in autumn 2022.

Belgravia will premiere this spring on Epix in the US and on ITV in the UK.

The Downton Abbey movie is available on DVD on Amazon.