The third Downton Abbey movie will have a special message for the late Dame Maggie Smith.
In a conversation with TVLine, Downton executive producer Gareth Neame opened up about a tribute that will be featured in the untitled A New Era sequel when it hits theaters in September 2025. The film was always set to include a tribute to Smith’s Violet Crawley, Dowager Countess of Grantham, following her death at the end of the previous project.
“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 said. “The loss of the Dowager, it now feels far more significant that you see actors playing characters mourning the family matriarch.”
He added, “But I also see actors mourning the matriarch of the show, and it feels more genuine and more meaningful.”
The Harry Potter star died “peacefully in hospital” on Sept. 27 with her family and friends, leaving behind two sons and five grandchildren. At the time, the producer shared a lengthy statement, honoring her legacy.
“She was an actress of such stature whose incredible talent could encompass high comedy and full-blown tragedy,” he wrote in part. “It is personally poignant that my late grandfather directed one of her finest performances in The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie for which she won her first Academy Award. Jean Brodie and Violet Grantham are but two creations in an extraordinary career spanning decades and delighting audiences across the globe. There is only one Maggie Smith and she will be greatly missed.”
While speaking with TVLine, he echoed those sentiments, noting her loss was “the end of an era,” and “we will never see the like of Dame Maggie Smith ever again.” He also added that the Downton cast and crew have “huge respect for her” that “will come across in the next movie.”
