By Shahana Yasmin
Copyright independent
Downton Abbey creator Julian Fellowes is not ruling out a return to the series universe saying he’s “learned never to say never anymore”.
His remarks come after the release of the franchise’s third film, Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale.
The conclusion, set in the 1930s, follows the 7th Earl of Grantham, Robert Crawley, played by Hugh Bonneville, as he moves to pass down his estate to daughter Lady Mary, played by Michelle Dockery. However, news of Mary’s divorce from Matthew Goode’s Henry Talbot puts her impending stewardship in jeopardy as the family’s financial troubles could see them sell and leave the abbey for good.
In a recent interview, Fellowes, 76, was asked about potential prequels and even spinoffs centred around the children of the beloved characters, even though the Crawley family seemed to have reached a natural conclusion.
“That’s a possibility. I’ve learned never to say never anymore, because you have to take it back,” the writer told Entertainment Weekly.
He was “not against the idea of revisiting Downton, but it would have to be in a different period of history so that their problems were different and they were facing different issues”, he said. “On that basis, I don’t see why not, but we’ll have to see what happens.”
The TV series created by Fellowes ran for six seasons from 2010 to 2015. The plotline concluded in 1925, with the first of the franchise’s films, Downton Abbey: The Motion Picture, taking place two years later in 1927.
Fellowes, now co-showrunner on HBO’s The Gilded Age, simply said “we’ll see” when told how interested fans were in seeing a crossover.
At the third film’s premiere earlier this month, producer Gareth Neame hinted that it would bring the central characters’ journeys to an end, but the door was open for a return to the Downton universe.
“The camera will pull away and we’ll have our last, last moment with those characters,” he said, before adding, “but that’s not necessarily the end for Downton Abbey.”
In her three-star review, The Independent’s Clarisse Loughrey said the film was “proof that this franchise simply must end”.
“There is no escaping the fact that this film, once again, feels like two episodes of the TV series have been smashed together,” she wrote
Earlier this month, Fellowes declared he’d made the final film for the fans, not the critics and didn’t expect the movie to be reviewed well.
“I don’t need to read a review anymore,” he said, “I could tell you what it says beforehand. I wasn’t trying to attract new viewers any more and I was aware we were saying goodbye.”
The Grand Finale released in cinemas on 12 September.
