The 'Downton Abbey' movie is likely to go into production next year.
Laura Carmichael as Lady Edith Crawley in Downton Abbey
Fans have been wishing for the popular drama to be made into a big screen blockbuster since the series ended in 2015 following a successful five-year run, and now it looks like things are finally falling into place as NBCUniversal want to start shooting the film sometime in 2018 when they've managed to track down the cast.
Michael Edelstein, president at NBCUniversal International Studios, told reporters at a event for Downton Abbey: The Exhibition in Singapore: "There's a movie in the works. It's been in the works for some time. We are working on getting the script right and then we've got to figure out how to get the [cast] together because as you know, people go on and do other things. But we're hopeful to make a movie sometime next year."
Viewers started to get excited last week when the show's creator Julian Fellowes revealed he'd written the script and was waiting for the go-ahead from the studio.
The 67-year-old writer said: "I've done some work on the script because I don't want to find there's a green light and no script ready. But we're still waiting for that green light from the studio. Then the biggest difficulty will be rounding up all the cast as, compared with most series, it has such a large cast. And it needs them to feel Downtonesque."
Although he's always insisted there would be a big screen adaptation at some point, some of the cast weren't so convinced as Laura Carmichael, who played Lady Edith Crawley, revealed in April that she was still waiting for a script.
Speaking to BANG Showbiz, Laura said: "My family are always telling me what they read but I don't know any more than that. As we have said before, if there is a script for us then we will be delighted. We just have to wait and see."
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