Hugh Bonneville shares disappointing news about the Downton Abbey movie franchise

While audiences have only just been treated to the return of the beloved period drama Downton Abbey in feature-length form - word around the manor is there won't be another sequel.

When the long-running series left our screens in 2016, fans of Downton Abbey were delighted to see all of our favourite characters from the original TV show, including Robert Crawley (Hugh Bonneville), Violet Crawley (Maggie Smith), Mary Crawley (Michelle Dockery), Anna Bates (Joanne Froggatt) and Cora Crawley (Elizabeth McGovern), return to the big screen in 2019 and again this year.

But now, Bonneville has revealed there probably won't be another movie made, saying the franchise has "run its course."

Speaking to Screen Rant, the 58-year-old said: "I was thinking for a while that (there) would be; we're all up for it, and let's go.

"But I think it's probably run its course now. And it's been a fantastic 12 years on and off that we've visited this family. But I think probably enough is enough."

In Downton Abbey: A New Era, the aristocratic Crawley family go on a grand journey to the South of France to uncover the mystery of the Dowager Countess' newly inherited villa on the French Riviera.

In keeping with Downton's famously sumptuous style, there was plenty of dazzling glitz and glamour, some jazz and an opulent wedding.