Dominic West and Hugh Dancy’s exciting roles in ‘Downton Abbey’ sequel revealed

More details have been revealed about the new mystery characters in the Downton Abbey 2.

The second movie based on ITV’s hit period drama series was filmed in the summer of 2021, with strict Covid safety measures in place.

Downton Abbey: A New Era was originally due for release last month.

However, the premiere date was sadly postponed by a few months due to concerns over releasing the movie during a winter wave of the pandemic.

The much-anticipated sequel to 2019’s first movie will hopefully be arriving in cinemas around the world on Friday 18th March 2022.

The “entire” main cast of Downton Abbey are reprising their roles, including Dame Maggie Smith as Lady Violet, despite the first movie suggesting that she wouldn’t be back.

Unfortunately, it looks like we won’t be seeing one key character in the film.

There are a number of new stars joining the cast in A New Era though!

Hugh Dancy has previously been in David Copperfield, Daniel Deronda, The Jane Austen Book Club, Homeland, and Elizabeth I.

The 46-year-old English actor also played Will Graham in NBC’s Hannibal television series.

Dancy will be joined by 35-year-old London-born actress Laura Haddock, best known for her roles in Da Vinci’s Demons, The Musketeers, Dancing on the Edge, Upstairs Downstairs, and Ripper Street.

And there’s 52-year-old English actor Dominic West, who shot to fame in HBO’s The Wire, before appearing in The Affair, The Hour, Appropriate Adult, Les Misérables, Pride, Chicago, and Colette.

Up until now we’ve known nothing about who these three are playing.

But Downton star Elizabeth McGovern has given some intriguing hints about the trio’s story line!

Don’t read on unless you want to know more…

The American actress revealed to the Daily Mail that Dominic West and Laura Haddock are playing two 1920s Hollywood silent movie stars.

We’re not sure if they’ll be portraying any real-life Hollywood stars or made-up characters.

Hugh Dancy will play the fictional film’s director.

McGovern commented: “You see this clash of cultures when Hollywood meets Downton. [A New Era] is set in 1928, nine months after the first one, when ‘talkies’, as opposed to silent films, were just starting to be made and they’ve got all these Hollywood movie stars and the director of a talking movie staying at the Abbey.”

The Lady Cora star, who is currently starring in a new play in London, added: “I’ll never forget when I showed up on set for the first time and there was Dominic West as this Hollywood actor with Laura Haddock as a silent screen star and Hugh Dancy as the director.”

She teased: “They’re having a blast in this movie, it’s their personas and the humour that they bring to it.”

We can’t wait to see them in the film!

While we excitedly wait for Downton Abbey: A New Era, here’s our complete list of all the new British period drama movies coming in 2022.

There’s also Julian Fellowes’ new period drama TV series A Gilded Age launching next week!

Downton Abbey: The Complete Collection box set is available on DVD on Amazon.