Hugh Bonneville has shared that the upcoming third film in the Downton Abbey franchise is the “best one yet.”
The latest entry in the period drama was officially confirmed last month, with the action set to follow the developments of 2022’s Downton Abbey: A New Era.
With filming now underway, Bonneville spoke in detail about the project with Yahoo!, including teasing details about the developments of his character, Robert Crawley.
“For my character, I think the usual [can be expected], which is that he’s a sort of dinosaur trying to be led into the future reluctantly, and then eventually he stumbles forward a bit,” said the actor. “So as always, there’s that rhythm of things changing with glacial slowness.
“Robert [is] finally accepting that things [are changing] – it’s time to move the story on, so to speak. It’s got the usual tropes, if you like, of thrills and spills in a very Downton way, which means spilling a teacup pretty much!
“I think there’s so much warmth and fun to enjoy, and new elements as well – which I won’t spoil – that I think it’ll certainly be the best iteration of the film versions yet.”
Bonneville, who appeared in all six series of the show, also spoke about the whole experience of his tenure, saying: “It never ceases to amaze me, it did when it first started in 2010 and here we are, 14 years later, we’re making a third movie.
“What’s been really interesting is there’s a whole new generation of people watching it and still finding it engaging, and also what’s been rather touching, particularly over the pandemic, [was] when people were stuck at home and they revisited a show that had finished five years before.
“I’m not complaining because it’s been a wonderful part of my life and we’re filming the third film at the moment, it’s a lovely coming together of people I care deeply about, and that’s just the fictional characters.”
