After 15 years of silverware polishing, elaborate gowns and the occasional scandal over the breakfast table, the Downton Abbey cast have finally put away the fine china for good. The beloved period drama is signing off with a third and final film, aptly titled Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale.
Set in the 1930s, the film sees patriarch Robert Crawley (Hugh Bonneville) passing the family estate’s heavy, metaphorical keys to daughter Mary (Michelle Dockery). Unfortunately for Mary, running an aristocratic pile comes with more than just garden parties and champagne – there’s financial strife and, naturally, a juicy public scandal to contend with.
Creator Julian Fellowes promises fans a fitting farewell. “Julian has constructed a beautiful, if you like, love letter to the loyal audiences,” Bonneville told Reuters at the world premiere. He added that viewers will find the ending both moving and, importantly, satisfying – because nothing says closure like a neatly tied bow on 15 years of aristocratic drama.
Familiar faces return alongside some new ones, with the cast admitting that this time, the goodbye really does feel final. “It’s very emotional to say goodbye. We’ve done it a number of times… but it’s nice to know this is it, because we wanted to give it the proper send-off,” said Laura Carmichael, who played Lady Edith.
First airing in 2010 and set initially in 1912, Downton Abbey became an international sensation, defying predictions that period drama was passé. Six seasons, two feature films and countless dramatic tea pours later, it has proved quite the opposite.
“Back then we thought we might get two or three series out of it,” Fellowes admitted. “We didn’t think we’d become a kind of world phenomenon.”
But a phenomenon it became, spanning Britain, Australia, the US and beyond. And now, after all the gowns, scandals, weddings and withering looks over soup, the Crawleys have earned their final curtain call, with fans invited to join them for one last grand upstairs-downstairs adventure.
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