Just imagine all the Oscars it would win.
When the final episode of Downton Abbey aired on Christmas Day, we were truly sorry to see it go: it’s entertained, delighted and shocked us for six series, and saying goodbye to Highclere Castle was even more difficult than we’d thought it would be.
So imagine our delight when we heard that Julian Fellowes may be planning a movie spinoff of the series.
Speaking to Digital Spy at the National Television Awards in London after his series scooped the award for Best Drama, Fellowes said he would ‘love’ to make a Downton Abbey film.
‘I'm completely up for a movie. I'd love to do a movie,’ he said.
‘It would be very, very good fun. There's all sorts of things that have to be settled – not least of which is the decision of when we'd make it.
‘I'm up for it! The percentage chance is about 64.5.’
Which is very specific if you ask us, but we’re not complaining.
Source: giphy
Back in November, Marie Claire exclusively interviewed the cast and creators of Downton Abbey ahead of the Christmas special to hear how they felt about the show ending – and Fellowes gave us a hint even back then that he’d be up for creating a film spin-off.
‘I don’t know, I mean there is obviously talk of a movie,’ he said. ‘I think a movie would be fun, because we could open the whole thing up in a way you can’t on television in weekly episodic narrative.
‘You suddenly have the power to tell the story in a completely different way visually. I think it would be interesting for it to happen, but for it to the cast would have to be on board, so we’ll see.’
The TV show is currently the Guinness World Record holder for the highest critical ratings for a TV show, and has scooped an incredible 59 Emmy Award Nominations – so we can only imagine the accolades that would come from a Downton Abbey film. And for totally selfish reasons - i.e. our own viewing pleasure - we really hope this happens sometime soon.
Would you watch a Downton Abbey movie spinoff? Let us know @marieclaireuk