Imelda Staunton Joins the Cast of the DOWNTON ABBEY Feature Film

It has been reported that Olivier Award-winning actor Imelda Staunton has joined the cast of the big screen adaptation of the television drama, Downton Abbey.

She joins her husband Jim Carter (Mr. Carson) in the film and will portray the Earl's cousin. Shooting for the film begins September 10.

The original principal cast, including Maggie Smith, Michelle Dockery, Hugh Bonneville and more, are set to reprise their upstairs/downstairs roles with Focus and Universal Pictures International distributing.

Creator Julian Fellowes has written the film's screenplay and will also serve as producer alongside Gareth Neame and Liz Trubridge. Brian Percival (The Book Thief), who directed the series' pilot, will helm the film. Nigel Marchant will also return to executive produce.

The film's producer Gareth Neame states, "When the television series drew to a close it was our dream to bring the millions of global fans a movie and now, after getting many stars aligned, we are shortly to go into production. Julian's script charms, thrills and entertains and in Brian Percival's hands we aim to deliver everything that one would hope for as Downton comes to the big screen."

Focus chairman Peter Kujawski adds, "Since the series ended, fans of Downton have long been waiting for the Crawley family's next chapter. We're thrilled to join this incredible group of filmmakers, actors and craftspeople, led by Julian Fellowes and Gareth Neame, in bringing back the world of Downton to the big screen" Deadline reports.

The series, set in the fictional Yorkshire country estate of DOWNTON ABBEY between 1912 and 1926, depicts the lives of the aristocratic Crawley family and their domestic servants in the post-Edwardian era-with the great events in history having an effect on their lives and on the British social hierarchy. Events depicted throughout the series include news of the sinking of the Titanic in the first series; the outbreak of the First World War, the Spanish influenza pandemic, and the Marconi SCANDAL in the second series; the Irish War of Independence leading to the formation of the Irish Free State in the third series; the Teapot Dome SCANDAL in the fourth series; and the British general election of 1923, the Jallianwala Bagh massacre, and the Beer Hall Putsch in the fifth series. The sixth and final series introduces the RISE of the working class during the interwar period and hints towards the eventual decline of the British aristocracy.

Downton Abbey has received acclaim from television critics and won numerous accolades, including a Golden Globe Award for Best Miniseries or Television Film and a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Miniseries or Movie. It was recognised by Guinness World Records as the most critically acclaimed English-language television series of 2011. It earned the most nominations of any international television series in the history of the Primetime Emmy Awards, with twenty-seven in total (after two series). It was the most watched television series on both ITV and PBS, and subsequently became the most successful British costume drama series since the 1981 television serial of Brideshead Revisited.

Photo Credit: PBS