A second "Downton Abbey" film is already in production and is slated to hit theaters on Dec. 22.
Focus Features announced on Monday that the original principal cast, including Hugh Bonneville, Michelle Dockery, Imelda Staunton, and Maggie Smith, is returning.
Actors Hugh Dancy, Laura Haddock, Nathalie Baye, and Dominic West will join the cast.
The first film, which was released in 2019, followed the visit from the King and Queen of England to Downton and "ended with a ball fitting for the Royal Family."
“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 reunited with the much-beloved characters of Downton Abbey," said Gareth Neame, the film’s producer and executive chairman of Carnival Films.“
Show creator Julian Fellowes is writing the screenplay, and Simon Curtis (“My Week With Marilyn”) is directing.
