Focus Features has just released a new trailer for Downton Abbey: A New Era, giving us a look into the upcoming movie sequel that revisits everyone's favorite English estate and its inhabitants, both up and downstairs. The second film in the Downton Abbey franchise is currently set to be released this May.
The new Downton Abbey film will reunite the principal cast and add a few new characters along the way. The trailer opens with the Dowager Countess, played by Maggie Smith, announcing that she has inherited a French villa, much to the confusion and astonishment of her family. And as she and a handful of the Downton Abbey residents set off to France to enjoy the beach and perhaps solve the mystery of the Dowager Countess's mysterious inheritance, the family remaining behind are set for an adventure of a different kind as the estate has been chosen for use as a filming location for a new movie.
Who knows what adventures will take place when the silver gleam of the booming 1920s film, from the white blonde bombshell to the charming leading man, takes over the estate? The new trailer hints at the movie stars mingling with the house's staff and clashing with the commanding Lady Mary, played by Michelle Dockery. Meanwhile, on the French seaside, Mr. Carson and the Lord and Lady will have to contend with the Dowager Countess's mysterious past.
This sequel film, like the franchise's first feature film, will tell the continuing story of those who live, serve, and own Downton Abbey. The series has followed the Crawley family throughout the tumultuous early 20th century, beginning with the sinking of the Titanic and continuing through the chaos of the First World War and the Spanish Flu pandemic. Now in the Roaring Twenties, the family and their staff are faced with an increasingly modern world to which they will have to adapt.
The film will include much of the series and previous film's principal cast, including Hugh Bonneville, Elizabeth McGovern, Jim Carter, Brendan Coyle, Kevin Doyle, Joanne Froggatt, Robert James-Collier, Phyllis Logan, Sophie McShera, Tuppence Middleton, Lesley Nicol, Imelda Staunton, and Penelope Wilton. There will also be some new additions to the cast, including Hugh Dancy, who has previously starred in the cult television series Hannibal, Laura Haddock, Nathalie Baye, and Dominic West, who is soon to take over as Prince Charles in The Crown.
The screenplay is written by Downton Abbey creator Julian Fellowes, with Gareth Neame and Liz Trubridge producing alongside Fellowes. Simon Curtis directs.
Downton Abbey: A New Era will be released to theaters on May 20. You can watch the new trailer below.