The Crawleys’ return to the big screen in the third “Downton Abbey” movie next September will be bittersweet, as the producer of the hit ITV/PBS series says they will pay homage to the late Maggie Smith, who played the family matriarch Violet Crawley, the Dowager Countess of Grantham.
“We will never see the like of Dame Maggie Smith ever again,” producer Gareth Neame told TVLine on Tuesday.
Smith, who won three Emmys, four SAG Awards and a Golden Globe for her “Downton” work, died this past September at age 89. As Violet, Smith won over fans on both sides of the Atlantic with her cutting wit and her verbal sparring with Lady Maud Bagshaw, played by fellow “Harry Potter” star Imelda Staunton.
Her passing came two years after the passing of the Dowager Countess in “Downton Abbey: A New Era,” in which more about Violet’s past was revealed as she inherits a French villa from a Marquis who was her former lover… much to the shock of her family.
“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,” Neame explained. “The loss of the Dowager 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.”
He added that the “Downton” cast and crew’s “huge respect for her … will come across in the next movie,” which is set for release on Sept. 12, 2025.
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