'Downton Abbey: A New Era' to be released in March '22 instead of this December

The previously announced second movie sequel to the Edwardian England drama series "Downton Abbey" has acquired a title and a new release date: "Downton Abbey: A New Era," originally set for release Dec. 22, will now bow theatrically on March 18, 2022.

As distributor Focus Features said in April, the entire cast of the hit series returns, with the additions of Hugh Dancy, Laura Haddock, Nathalie Baye and Dominic West.

"Downton Abbey," tracing the upstairs/downstairs relationships, travails and historical events surrounding the aristocratic Crawley family and their titular Yorkshire estate ran from 2010 to 2015 in the U.K., and, in the United States, from 2011 to 2016 as part of the PBS omnibus "Masterpiece." The series and its cast and crew won 15 Emmy Awards, with several dozen nominations.

A 2019 film sequel centered around a royal visit to the Crawley family from England's King George V and Queen Mary.

Dancy starred as FBI agent Will Graham opposite Mads Mikkelsen's serial-killer title character in NBC's 2013-15 series "Hannibal." Dominic West starred with Maura Tierney and Ruth Wilson on Showtime's 2014-19 "The Affair." and played Baltimore detective Jimmy McNulty on HBO's "The Wire" (2002-08).

The 2019 feature film, coming three years after the series finale, made $237.86 million worldwide on a modest budget of approximately $13 million, according to the movie-grosses aggregator BoxOfficeMojo.com.