Highclere Castle Celebrates Start of Filming for 'Downton Abbey' Movie

Just before Highclere Castle closed for the season and filming for the highly anticipated Downton Abbey movie commenced, the Carnarvons threw a World War I themed event.

Downton Abbey is on the verge of achieving the ultimate validation in fandom in the 21st century: Six Seasons and a Movie. After a heroic effort on the part of the production company to line up every last actor (save Lily James) to be available at the same time, filming on the feature film version of the period drama officially kicked off this month. While every actor in the ensemble plays an important role, arguably the real star of the series is the titular house, a character which was there before any of the Crawley family, and will continue to stand long after all of them are gone. That house is played by the real-life Highclere Castle estate, home to the 8th Earl of Carnarvon and his wife.

To celebrate the start of filming, Michelle Dockery shared a photo from the set, which looks to include both Carson and Mrs. Hughes...or perhaps, as we should call her now, Mrs. Carson.