“Downton Abbey” will end its run after the upcoming sixth season, but a movie may be in the offing, executive producer Gareth Neame said on Thursday.
“We’re very interested in that. It’s definitely something that we’re contemplating,” Neame said on a conference call with reporters.
“I can’t confirm that it’s definitely going to happen; it would take a lot of planning and thinking about,” he added. “We shall see.”
Neame said he and “Downton Abbey” creator and writer Julian Fellowes would be excited to bring the Masterpiece series to the big screen, but there is currently no set plan in place to do so.
In the meantime, fans will have to cherish the upcoming episodes of the final season — Neame quashed the possibility of a “Downton Abbey” spin-off series.
Asked whether contract negotiations factored in to the decision to end the series when it’s so popular worldwide, Neame said the cast and crew have always been transparent and made creative choices as a group.
“We work as a team — the cast and the producers — and we’ve decided that the time is right,” Neame said.
“It’s not that 50 percent of the cast wouldn’t do their contracts and we had to bring the show to an end; it’s much more collaborative a process than that,” he added.