Late Dame Maggie Smith to get tribute in third ‘Downton Abbey’ film

‘Downton Abbey’ third film to tribute Maggie Smith

Late Dame Maggie Smith goes to be “mourned” within the third Downton Abbey.

The third movie will function a poignant tribute to each the long-lasting Dowager Countess and the beloved actress who introduced her to life, Maggie Smith.

“We will never see the like of Dame Maggie Smith ever again,” Neame mentioned, calling the lack of the two-time Oscar winner “the end of an era.”

Smith portrayed Violet Crawley, Dowager Countess of Grantham, because the ITV and PBS drama’s debut in 2010. 

She continued the position within the 2019 movie adaptation and its 2022 sequel, Downton Abbey: A New Period, even after the sequence concluded in 2015.

In A New Period, the Dowager Countess dies throughout the story. 

Neame, 57, famous the added significance of this storyline in mild of Smith’s real-life passing. 

“The fact that Dame Maggie herself has now passed away since that time, I do think, has given a real added poignancy to a story that we would have planned anyway,” he mentioned of the third movie, scheduled for a September 12, 2025, theatrical launch.

“The loss of the Dowager,” added the “Day of the Jackal” producer, “now feels far more significant that you see actors playing characters mourning the family matriarch. 

But I also see actors mourning the matriarch of the show, and it feels more genuine and more meaningful.”

Neame promised that the “huge respect” the Downton Abbey forged and crew have for Smith “will come across in the next movie.”

Downton Abbey creator Julian Fellowes referred to as working with Smith “the greatest privilege of my career,” telling Folks, “we were more than fortunate to be part of the last act in her stellar career.”

Smith, whose remaining display credit score was the 2023 movie The Miracle Membership, is survived by her sons and 5 grandchildren.