‘Downton Abbey’ season 5 spoilers: Are Tom Cullen, Julian Ovenden returning?

“Downton Abbey” made something clear courtesy of a massive press release sent out on Friday: They have no intentions of shortening their cast whatsoever as they prepare to enter their fifth season. Even though this may be the time in which it starts to cost more and more money to put your program on the air and pay the cast, they are finding a way to move forward with it.

We’re going to get to sharing some of the new castings in the near future, but for the sake of this article, we want to plant most of the focus on the people that are definitely confirmed to be coming back for more on the show:  Maggie Smith, Hugh Bonneville, Michelle Dockery, Elizabeth McGovern, Jim Carter, Penelope Wilton, Phyllis Logan, Samantha Bond, Laura Carmichael, Lily James, Allen Leech, Brendan Coyle, Joanne Froggatt, Lesley Nicol, Sophie McShera, Rob James-Collier, Ed Speleers, Kevin Doyle, Raquel Cassidy, David Robb, Tom Cullen, Julian Ovenden, Daisy Lewis, Douglas Reith, Jeremy Swift and Andrew Scarborough. Take a deep breath now, since that is a ton of names!

To us, the biggest names mentioned on here when it comes to the mere surprise factor are Ovenden and Cullen, given that we presumed it possible that in the time in which the show was off the air, Mary would have decided between Anthony Gillingham and Charles Blake as to her possible future husband, and the other would be gone. That is not the case. This is also proof that Maggie is game for more, and that Lily James, despite being cast as Cinderella, is still going to be coming back for more of her role as Lady Rose.

“Downton Abbey” will film in the months ahead, and will premiere on ITV this coming fall. As for the US, you are sadly going to have to wait again until January. PBS likes the ratings that the show gets in its current spot, and they have no plans or intentions to change it at any point in the near future.

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Photo: ITV