"Downton Abbey" isn't completely bidding its farewell after season 6 as executive producer Gareth Neame confirmed during the Television Critics Association summer press tour in Beverly Hills that the estate might get the big screen treatment in the future.
"There is this speculation about whether we'll make a Downton movie," he said as quoted by TV Line. "We might. It's something we've talked about. I think a Downton movie would be a wonderful thing. But we don't have a script or a plan as of yet."
As the waiting game for the estate's move to the silver screen begins, details about "Downton Abbey" season 6 are also trickling in. It was announced that the final season of the British drama will premiere on Jan. 6 and a trailer for it was also released.
Apart from the minimal spoilers provided by the preview, Hugh Bonneville, who plays Robert in the series, also revealed during the TCA summer press tour via Entertainment Weekly that the upcoming season "has the flavor of an end of an era."
"We visit a neighbor in the county who literally has to sell the estate's silver. It's a scene of a once grand estate is being fragmented. Robert ... does see that change is necessary. He wants to conserve the best of the past but absolutely understands that the future beckons," the actor detailed.
The cast members of "Downton Abbey" also expressed how hard it was to say goodbye to the series. Laura Carmichael, who plays Lady Edith, even said that "we didn't want to leave." But despite this, executive producer and writer Julian Fellowes said there's no perfect season to tie everything than season 6.
"If we had finished at [season] 5, that would have been short-changing a global audience," he said. "And if we tried to do 8, that would have felt like running out of ideas. The best thing [a viewer] can say is 'I don't want the show to end.'"
