Exclusive: Penelope Wilton addresses potential Downton Abbey return.

Penelope Wilton has addressed a possible return to Downton Abbey.

The actress appeared as Isobel Crawley across the show's six seasons, as well as the two movies – most recently 2022's A New Era.

While further instalments in the franchise are up in the air at the moment, Wilton spoke about the future in an exclusive chat with Digital Spy while promoting new film The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry.

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"I don't know [if there's going to be any more] – I don't think it has been ruled out but I don't know," she said. "I haven't seen any scripts or anything. So I really don't know any more than you do at the moment."

Asked if she would come back for another film, Wilton was enthused by the prospect – even with the passing of Maggie Smith's character Violet Crawley.

"I think I'd come back, oh definitely. Yes. Even without Lady Grantham," she said.

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Last August, star Hugh Bonneville spoke about the future of Downton, suggesting a spin-off may not be out of the question in a chat with the Radio Times: "I don't know [if we'll see more].

"I know there's a whole world of fandom that creates all the fictions of what happened before, or after and sideways from our stories, but there's only really one story creator and that is Julian Fellowes, so I don't know where he would take his characters next or which aspect of these characters' lives he'd like to explore."

Bonneville added: "That's up to him, if indeed there are any more iterations to come. But I can see that there's a whole world of renewed interest in this era, certainly in the last ten years there's been a revived interest in historical drama."

The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry is released in UK cinemas on April 28. Downton Abbey: A New Era is now out to buy as a digital download.