The Downton Abbey Movie Is Officially Happening, But Someone Forgot To Tell The Cast

After months of rumors, NBCUniversal International Studios has confirmed that the Downton Abbey movie is happening. Unfortunately, it looks like the show's cast members didn't get the memo.

At a Singapore event to celebrate "Downton Abbey: The Exhibition," NBCUniversal International Studios president Michael Edelstein told The Associated Press that the movie is a go. But some of the cast members told AP at the same event that they didn't know the film had been confirmed.

"There's a movie in the works. It's been in the works for some time," Edelstein told AP. "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."

"Well, tell my agent, because we're still waiting to know," Laura Carmichael, who played Lady Edith Crawley on Downton Abbey, told AP. "We're hoping that will happen soon."

And Sophie McShera, who portrayed assistant cook Daisy Mason, seemed just as surprised.

"Oh, well, you've got confirmation before us. We have no idea if that's happening," McShera told AP when asked about the movie. "But we would all love to be part of the film if it was to happen, for sure."

Edelstein told AP that he wants 20 of the show's original cast members to appear in the movie. It's not clear who that might entail, but the actors' statements are puzzling. Surely at least Lady Edith will appear in the movie?

The studio president told AP that production on the movie is likely to start in 2018, so we'll likely have more answers before then. Hopefully, conversations with the cast will happen before then, too.