It has been revealed that the cast of Downton Abbey‘s upcoming film will include a two-time Oscar nominee.

The film, which will be the third from the series, is believed to be in the works along with a seventh series, eight years on from the last.

Now, the film’s cast has gained someone whose Best Actor 2024 Academy Award hopes for The Holdovers were thwarted by Cillian Murphy.

The American, 56, has appeared in the likes of Saving Private Ryan, Straight Out Of Compton, and Twelve Years A Slave.

Paul Giamatti has reportedly joined the cast of Downton Abbey 3 as the team head into filming ahead of a 2025 release.

It has been revealed that the cast of Downton Abbey’s upcoming third film will include a two-time Oscar nominee

At the 2024 Oscars, the star’s Best Actor hopes for The Holdovers were thwarted by Cillian Murphy

Paul Giamatti, 56, has reportedly joined the cast of Downton Abbey 3 as the team head into filming ahead of a 2025 release

A TV insider told The Sun: ‘Downton fans will recognise Paul from the last time he starred in Downton Abbey, playing Harold Levinson, the brother of the Countess of Grantham.

‘But getting him back is still something of a coup for the creative team because since then his career has seen him become even more in demand.

‘That’s only going to increase since he was nominated for his Best Actor Oscar. But he has now committed to being a part of the new Downton film.’

Downton Abbey’s first two flicks totalled a whopping £220million at the Box Office.

The first film, in 2019, starred Hugh Bonneville and Elizabeth McGovern as the Earl and Countess of Grantham.

Along with Maggie Smith as the Dowager Countess, they both returned in the 2022 sequel, Downton Abbey: A New Era, which saw the action divided between the stately home and the South of France.

The ITV drama series itself debuted in 2010 and ran until 2015, with the first of the two films being released in 2019.

However just weeks after the Mail revealed there would be a seventh series of the show after eight years away, The Sun has reported that filming is also scheduled to begin on a third film.

The same cast and behind-the-scenes team are set to make a return to set in Highclere Castle, Hampshire, where the new movie will pick up from where the second ended – in the late 1920s.

The film, made by Carnival Films, should see the whole cast return, which is something that had supposedly been a logistical challenge.

An insider told The Sun : ‘Downton fans will recognise Paul from the last time he starred in Downton Abbey, playing Harold Levinson, the brother of the Countess of Grantham’