'Downton Abbey' Creator to Develop NBC Drama

By
ITV News

Downton Abbey fans who've always wished for a U.S. version of the critically acclaimed show are in luck -- NBC has just hired Downton Abbey creator Julian Fellowes to write and produce a no doubt similar drama called The Gilded Age, which NBC says will be an "epic tale of the princes of the American Renaissance, and the vast fortunes they made -- and spent -- in late 19th-century New York."

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In a press release, Fellowes describes the period of American history as a "vivid time, with dizzying, brilliant ascents and calamitous falls, of record-breaking ostentation and savage rivalry … a time when money was king."

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There's no word yet on when the new show will hit the air, but Fellowes won't be abandoning his beloved PBS series for the new gig. The third season of Downton Abbey starts January 6 and he's currently working on a fourth season, expected to air late 2013 in England.