Apr 19, 2021

LONDON, UK, April 19, 2021 – Focus Features chairman Peter Kujawski announced today that Focus has set production with Gareth Neame’s Carnival Films on Downton Abbey 2. The original principal cast will all once again return for the second film which began production last week and is set to release Christmas 2021 on December 22, 2021. In addition to the original cast, Hugh Dancy, Laura Haddock, Nathalie Baye and Dominic West will join the cast. Downton creator Academy Award® winner Julian Fellowes will once again write the film’s screenplay, with Emmy and BAFTA Award-winning Gareth Neame and Emmy Award-winning Liz Trubridge back to produce with Fellowes. BAFTA and Emmy nominated director Simon Curtis (My Week with Marilyn) will join the filmmaking team to direct the sequel. 

The initial film followed a Royal Visit to the Crawley family and Downton staff from the King and Queen of England and ended with a ball fitting for the Royal Family. 

Gareth Neame, the film’s producer and executive chairman of Carnival Films said, “After a very challenging year with so many of us separated from family and friends, it is a huge comfort to think that better times are ahead and that next Christmas we will be re-united with the much beloved characters of Downton Abbey.”

Focus Features chairman Peter Kujawski said, “There’s no place like home for the holidays, and we can’t imagine a better gift than getting to reunite with Julian, Gareth, and the entire Downton family in 2021 to bring the Crawley’s back home for their fans.” 

Downton Abbey 2 is a Carnival Films production, with Focus Features and Universal Pictures International distributing. Carnival Films is part of NBCUniversal International Studios, a division of Universal Studio Group.

Social image asset from Downton Abbey 2 – click here

ABOUT FOCUS FEATURES
Focus Features acquires and produces specialty films for the global market and holds a library of iconic movies, with 129 Academy Award Nominations and 25 wins from fearless filmmakers. Upcoming and current releases from Focus include Promising Young Woman produced by LuckyChap Entertainment; Robin Wright’s feature directorial debut Land starring Wright and co-star Demián Bichir; acclaimed filmmaker Morgan Neville’s upcoming documentary on Anthony Bourdain; Edgar Wright’s supernatural thriller Last Night in Soho from Working Title; Eddie Huang’s directorial debut Boogie; Justin Chon’s powerful drama Blue Bayou; . Universal Pictures International has led distribution in select markets for titles including Last Night in Soho; Land; Untitled Anthony Bourdain documentary; Boogie; Blue Bayou; Tom McCarthy’s Stillwater starring Matt Damon; Paul Schrader’s thriller The Card Counter starring Oscar Isaac, Tiffany Haddish, Tye Sheridan and Willem Dafoe; Wolf starring George MacKay and Lily-Rose Depp; James Gray’s Armageddon Time starring Robert De Niro, Oscar Isaac, Anne Hathaway, Cate Blanchett, and Donald Sutherland; the supernatural horror You Won’t Be Alone; and Kenneth Branagh’s humorous, tender and intensely personal Belfast starring Caitriona Balfe, Judi Dench, Jamie Dornan, Ciaran Hinds and Jude Hill.

Focus is part of Universal Filmed Entertainment Group (UFEG), which produces, acquires, markets and distributes filmed entertainment worldwide in various media formats for theatrical, home entertainment, television and other distribution platforms. UFEG’s global division also includes Universal Pictures, Universal Pictures Home Entertainment, and DreamWorks Animation. UFEG is part of NBCUniversal, one of the world’s leading media and entertainment companies in the development, production and marketing of entertainment, news and information to a global audience. NBCUniversal owns and operates a valuable portfolio of news and entertainment networks, a premier motion picture company, significant television production operations, a leading television stations group, world-renowned theme parks and a suite of leading Internet-based businesses. NBCUniversal is a subsidiary of Comcast Corporation.

For more information please visit www.focusfeatures.com

About Carnival Films

Carnival Films is a London-based television and feature film production company, and part of NBCUniversal International Studios, a division of Universal Studios Group. Led by executive chairman and producer Gareth Neame, the company is one of the UK’s leading drama producers, having produced hundreds of hours of compelling content viewed around the world.

Carnival Films produced all six seasons of the much honoured and beloved series Downton Abbey, which aired in over 250 territories worldwide and set a Guinness World Record for being the most critically well-received show in the world. The company produced the hit feature film of the same name which earned more than $193 million at the worldwide box office, making it the highest grossing film of all time for distributor Focus Features. Recent Carnival Films productions include The Last Kingdom for Netflix, Belgravia for ITV and EPIX and Jamestown and for Sky One.

Having received more than 200 international awards and honours including Primetime Emmys, Golden Globes and BAFTAs, Carnival has produced landmark series including Poirot, Hotel Babylon, Whitechapel and Dracula, as well as award-winning mini-series such as Traffik, Any Human Heart, The Lost Honour of Christopher Jefferies and The Hollow Crown anthology. Carnival Films has also been recognized as the UK’s best production company at both the Bulldog and Broadcast Awards.

For more information please visit www.carnivalfilms.co.uk

About Simon Curtis

Simon Curtis began his career at the Royal Court Theatre, London and directed at the Lincoln Center Theater New York and Steppenwolf Theater, Chicago. At the BBC his many credits include David Copperfield with Maggie Smith, Imelda Staunton, Ian Mckellen and Daniel Radcliffe, the BAFTA and Emmy winning Cranford with Judi Dench, Eileen Atkins and Michael Gambon. His films are My Week with Marilyn with Michelle Williams, Ken Branagh and Eddie Redmayne, Woman in Gold with Helen Mirren and Ryan Reynolds, Goodbye Christopher Robin with Domnhall Gleeson and Margot Robbie and The Art of Racing in the Rain with Milo Ventimiglia, Amanda Seyfried and Kevin Costner. He is repped by Independent Talent Agency, UTA, and Anonymous Content