The end of an era in 'Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale'

CEBU, Philippines — Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale presents a cinematic end to the global phenomenon as audiences can step into the past with the family and staff that captivated audiences for years with the Downton Abbey TV shows and films.

Creator Julian Fellowes returns at the helm as we enter the 1930s with the Crawley family and their staff. They must navigate the ever-changing modern world as they grapple with public scandal and social disgrace. The ensemble cast of Downton Abbey returns to the big screen, including Hugh Bonneville, Laura Carmichael, Jim Carter, Michelle Dockery, and Paul Giamatti.

Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale will open exclusively in Ayala Malls Cinemas starting September 10.

Fellowes gives a peek into what the Crawleys and their staff are up to at the start of the film: “The Crawleys are doing pretty well. Despite the changing times, they are still a great family living in a great house. There is an air of change in their relationships with their servants and with ordinary people living in the village. The two world wars brought about a narrowing of the gap in the human experience and the aristocratic families were facing the wrong way in history after both wars. The film touches upon these changing times. One of the storylines in the film is Mary getting a divorce, and what I hope will surprise audiences is the extent to which divorce was not accepted until much later.”

For director Simon Curtis, the film will dive deeper into the characters people have grown to love, and their thoughts on the changing eras. “This film is a loving portrait of the characters as they enter the 1930s, and we really dig into the characters' emotions at the end of the story we're telling. The central storyline is that Lady Mary is getting divorced, which is a massive issue in 1930, especially for a family of this social standing.”

He praises Fellowes, his longtime collaborator, for going above and beyond for the script of Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale. “Julian has such great humanity, and he gives every character, no matter what their class or their sex or their age, dignity, wit and warmth. I love those little moments of humanity between the different characters, with the added poignancy that, very often, these moments are their final moments together.”