Downton Abbey 3 will pay tribute to Maggie Smith and her character

Dowager Countess Violet Crawley died in Downton Abbey: a new erabut the upcoming third film will still pay homage to the late Maggie Smith.

“The fact that Dame Maggie herself has since passed away, I think, gave a really poignancy to a story that we would have planned anyway.” Downton Abbey executive producer Gareth Néame shared in an interview with TV line Tuesday, December 24. “The loss of the dowager, it now seems much more significant that you see actors playing characters mourning the matriarch of the family. But I also see actors mourning the show’s matriarch, and it feels more authentic and meaningful.

Smith died at age 89 on September 27, shortly after the film’s production. Downton Abbey 3 finished filming earlier this year. Although the plot of the third film in the series is currently unknown, it will likely address the aftermath of Violet’s death. Smith’s iconic character died surrounded by his family at the end of the second film, released in theaters in May 2022.

Neame, 57, called Smith’s death “the end of an era”, recounting TV line that “we will never see Dame Maggie Smith again”. He went on to note that the Downton Abbey “the cast and crew’s immense respect for her…will come through in the next film.”

Smith portrayed the matriarch of the Crawley family in all six seasons of Downton Abbey from 2010 to 2015 and in the 2019 film Downton Abbey and its follow-up in 2022. The sharp-tongued character has earned the actress numerous accolades, including two Emmys for Best Supporting Actress in a Drama Series and a 2013 Golden Globe for Best Performance by an Actress in a supporting role in a television series.

Throughout his legendary Hollywood career, Smith has won a total of four Emmy Awards, two Academy Awards, three Golden Globes and a Tony Award. She played a number of memorable characters besides Violet, including Professor McGonagall in the film. Harry Potter film franchise and Mother Superior in the Sisters Act movies.

the sons of Smith, Chris Larkin And Toby Stephensconfirmed his death in a September 27 statement to the BBC. “She died peacefully in hospital early this morning, Friday September 27. An intensely private person, she was with her friends and family at the end. She leaves two loving sons and five grandchildren who are devastated by the loss of their extraordinary mother and grandmother,” they shared. “We would like to take this opportunity to thank the wonderful staff at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital for their unwavering care and kindness during his final days.”

Smith’s cause of death was not revealed at the time, although she battled breast cancer during filming in 2009. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.

Last October, Smith’s Downton Abbey costar Hugues Bonneville called the upcoming film “a wonderful sort of closure to all the stories” in an interview on Chris Evans’ breakfast on Virgin Radio UK

“It takes place in the house and we say goodbye to all these characters and we obviously say goodbye to Dame Maggie, which was very poignant on screen and now in real life,” added Bonneville, who plays Robert Crawley. “We will miss her very much. But the final film will obviously be a great and lasting tribute to her. »

Downton Abbey 3 is scheduled to hit theaters on September 12, 2025.