The upcoming third and final Downton Abbey movie will pay “meaningful” tribute to the late Dame Maggie Smith, according to executive producer Gareth Neame.
Smith, who died in September at the age of 89, played Violet Crawley, Dowager Countess of Grantham in the ITV period drama beginning from 2010.
Her character died at the end of the last film in the series, 2022’s Downton Abbey: A New Era.
In a new interview with TV Line, Neame said: “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.
“The loss of the Dowager, it 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 went on to say that Smith’s death marked “the end of an era” and added that “we will never see the like of Dame Maggie Smith ever again.”
He said the cast and crew of Downton Abbey’s “huge respect for her … will come across in in the next movie.”
In June, Universal Pictures announced that Downton Abbey 3 will be released on September 12, 2025. A new title is expected to be confirmed before the release.
Hugh Bonneville will reprise his role as Robert Crawley, the Earl of Grantham, alongside Elizabeth McGovern, who stars as his on-screen wife Lady Cora, and Michelle Dockery and Laura Carmichael, who play the Crawleys’ daughters Lady Mary and Lady Edith.
Other returning stars include Jim Carter, Phyllis Logan, Robert James-Collier and Joanne Froggatt, Allen Leech, Penelope Wilton and Brendan Coyle.
They will be joined by Oscar nominee Paul Giamatti, who previously appeared in the show’s 2013 Christmas special as Cora’s brother, along with Joely Richardson, Alessandro Nivola, Simon Russell Beale and Arty Froushan.
Dockery shared her excitement at reuniting with her castmates in a video shared to mark the announcement.
“It feels amazing and emotional,” she said. “It’s wonderful all to be back together again. You come back together and you feel like no time has passed at all.”
The movie will be written by series creator Julian Fellowes and will be directed by Simon Curtis, who previously helmed Downton Abbey: A New Era.
Downton Abbey ran for six seasons on ITV, airing from 2010 to 2015. The first spin-off film was released in 2019, followed by A New Era in 2022.
