The “Downton Abbey” ensemble said goodbye to the franchise with a third and concluding film, 15 years after the period drama debuted as a TV series and attracted a significant fan base in the UK and the US.
“Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale” centers on the fictional Crawley family and their staff as they manage a vast English countryside estate in the early 1900s, now transitioning into the 1930s, with father Robert Crawley (Hugh Bonneville) ready to pass control to his daughter, Mary.
“(Creator and writer) Julian (Fellowes) has crafted a lovely, if you prefer, tribute to the dedicated audiences we have built over the years,” Bonneville said to Reuters at the film’s global debut on Wednesday.
“I believe those watching the show will see it as a deeply touching and fitting conclusion to all the narratives.”
The movie includes various original cast members along with new talents.
“Saying farewell is deeply moving.” “We’ve done it numerous times… we consistently believed the TV show was everything, then we made a movie, and thought we should be so fortunate,” actress Laura Carmichael, who portrayed Mary’s sister Edith, stated. “It’s good to realize this is the end since we aimed to provide it…a worthy farewell.”
The critically acclaimed “Downton Abbey” premiered as a series in 2010, originally taking place in 1912. It continued for six seasons and was succeeded by two earlier films launched in 2019 and 2022.
“We aimed to demonstrate that those who predicted that period dramas were over were mistaken.” “However, I believe it was simply that,” Fellowes remarked regarding the show’s initial onset.
