Perhaps in deference to the Dowager Countess’s legendary ignorance of weekends, Focus Features has announced that they will release the long-awaited Downton Abbey movie on Friday, September 20 in North America. Meanwhile, those lucky international audiences should be quietly holding their tongues for a week, since Universal Pictures International will release it a week earlier on Friday, September 13.
The television series about the Crawley family and their servants, navigating turn of the 20th century England, enjoyed popularity across the world and ran for six seasons, even becoming the most nominated non-US television show in the history of the Emmys. For its return to the screen, the original principal cast will be back, including Hugh Bonneville, Laura Carmichael, Jim Carter, Brendan Coyle, Michelle Dockery, Kevin Doyle, Joanne Froggatt, Matthew Goode, Harry Hadden-Paton, Robert James-Collier, Allen Leech, Phyllis Logan, Elizabeth McGovern, Sophie McShera, Lesley Nicol, Penelope Wilton and, of course, the legendary Maggie Smith. Creator Julian Fellowes wrote the screenplay, and will produce it alongside Gareth Neame and Liz Trubridge.
Basically, you’ve got a year to rewatch six seasons, learn the Dowager Countess’s best lines, and plan out your best evening wear for the screening. The Crawleys wouldn’t have it any other way.
