‘Downton Abbey 3’ Star Shares Sad but Touching Thoughts

Downton Abbey may seem like an unending franchise at this point, 15 years after it first debuted as an acclaimed television series that crossed the Atlantic and found a big American audience. If you take the cast and crew’s word for it, though, Downton Abbey 3 will be the final iteration of this historical drama which has tracked the lives of different families and classes at the turn of the 20th century.

As such, the mood on set was somewhat bittersweet. Michelle Dockery, who has starred in the show as Lady Mary Crawley since the beginning, recently spoke with MovieWeb about returning to the franchise with Downton Abbey 3, which comes to theaters on Sep. 12, 2025. “Well, I mean, going into this last one was like…” Dockery trailed off. “First of all, to do one film was incredible for us. To now look back and we’ve done a series and three movies is just incredible. We would never have foreseen that.” Dockery continued:

“Going back into this one was like it always is. It is like stepping back into a family again, and we’re all so close, and it’s such a great atmosphere. To be going back to something that you’re very familiar with, it’s quite unusual, actually, in a career, to go back to something that many times. But knowing it was the last created a different feeling, you know, and actually made me relish, really relish every moment as much as possible. It’s my home away from home. But it’ll last forever.”

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Who Else Is Returning for ‘Downton Abbey 3?’

Michelle Dockery is, of course, only one of many returning faces from the long-running franchise. Hugh Bonneville, Elizabeth McGovern, Laura Carmichael, Jim Carter, Phyllis Logan, Robert James-Collier, Paul Giamatti, Allen Leech, Penelope Wilton, and Joanne Froggatt will all reprise their roles. New faces include Joely Richardson, Alessandro Nivola, Simon Russell Beale, and Arty Froushan.

Simon Curtis is returning to direct after his success with the previous film, Downton Abbey: A New Era. That film was a delightful surprise to many, earning an 86% critics’ score and a 97% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes. Curtis is known mainly for his sweet films of the 2010s, including My Week with Marilyn and Goodbye Christopher Robin, and should be the right person to land this plane which took off back at the beginning of 2011.

In the meantime, Dockery is starring in the new action-thriller Flight Risk, directed by Mel Gibson. The claustrophobic film features Dockery as a U.S. Marshal confined to a small plane with a prisoner she’s escorting (played by Topher Grace) and a psychotic Mark Wahlberg. It hits theaters Jan. 24, 2025, from Lionsgate.

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