'Downton Abbey' star Hugh Bonneville says there's a script for the film's sequel

The coronavirus vaccine is poised to heal the world and quench fans' thirst for more Downton Abbey.

According to series star Hugh Bonneville, the actor has "seen the script" for the sequel to the 2019 movie continuation of Julian Fellowes' beloved historical drama series, and insists the cast is interested in filming it once they receive the COVID-19 vaccine.

"If everybody who is offered a vaccine takes a vaccine, we can make a movie," he said on the latest edition of the British radio program The Zoe Ball Breakfast Show. "We will make a movie. It's the usual thing, the planets are circling, they're beginning to get into alignment, but there's this thing called coronavirus knocking around. Until that is under control in a sensible way, we're not going to be able to get all those ducks in a row."

He went on to say that "there certainly is the intention to do it, we'd love to do it, we're desperate to do it" and that the story would serve as "a pleasurable release of a movie like the first one is that audiences would enjoy after all this mess we've been through."

Downton Abbey previously ran for six seasons between 2010 and 2015 before the movie — directed by Michael Engler and starring series mainstays Michelle Dockery, Maggie Smith, and more — grossed nearly $200 million at the global box office in 2019.

A representative for Focus Features, which distributed the first Downton Abbey film, did not immediately respond to EW's request for confirmation. Listen to Bonneville's full interview on The Zoe Ball Breakfast Show here.

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