Downton Abbey 3 announced with Paul Giamatti and Joely Richardson to join cast

Fasten your cufflinks and straighten your frocks – a third Downton Abbey film has been announced, with a star-studded cast set to welcome viewers back to the country estate once more.

On Monday (13 May), news of the much-loved historical drama getting a third film was announced, along with new cast members such as Paul Giamatti, Joely Richardson, Alessandro Nivola, Simon Russell Beale and Arty Froushan.

As well as new faces, Downton Abbey 3 will also see the return of some central figures, including Hugh Bonneville, Elizabeth McGovern, Michelle Dockery, Laura Carmichael, Jim Carter, Phyllis Logan, Robert James-Collier and Joanne Froggatt.

Other actors confirmed to return for the third film include Allen Leech, Penelope Wilton, Lesley Nicol, Michael Fox, Raquel Cassidy, Brendan Coyle, Kevin Doyle, Harry Hadden-Paton, Sophie McShera and Douglas Reith.

The series, which originally aired episodically on ITV from 2010 to 2015, followed the lives of an aristocratic Yorkshire family between 1912 and 1926.

Since its end with series six in 2015, the show has been adapted into two feature films: 2019’s Downton Abbey and 2022’s Downton Abbey: A New Era.

Talk of another cinematic outing for the project has been circulating for several months.

During an appearance on Zoe Ball’s Radio 2 breakfast show in March, Imelda Staunton, who plays Lady Maud Bagshaw, was asked whether she’d be able to share anything about plans for the Downton story. She replied simply: “There will be the final film – there you go.”

Lady Bagshaw was introduced in the first film as a verbal sparring partner of the Dowager Countess of Grantham, played by Maggie Smith.

Though the announcement of a third Downton Abbey film will be welcome news for many of the franchise’s fans around the world, there are others who won’t be as excited by the news. The Independent’s two-star review of the second film, Downton Abbey: A New Era, likened it to “a dinner party guest that won’t shut up and go home”.

Still, it was a commercial success and grossed $92.7m (£73m) worldwide.

Academy Award-winning screenwriter Julian Fellowes, who created the show, will write the script as well as produce, alongside Gareth Neame and Liz Trubridge.

Simon Curtis will also return to the franchise as director, after helming 2022’s Downton Abbey: A New Era.