Third Downton Abbey Movie Will Pay ‘Meaningful’ Tribute to Maggie Smith: ‘The Loss of the Dowager Now Feels Far More Significant’

There’s never a dull moment at Downton Abbey, but since Christmas is an especially eventful time for the Crawley family, this feels like the perfect occasion to share a gift — the gift of scoop.

As fans of the hit franchise are painfully aware, the second theatrical film (2022’s Downton Abbey: A New Era) ended with the death of the Dowager Countess, played by Dame Maggie Smith. A third movie, set to be released on Sept. 12, 2025, was always going to include a tribute to Smith’s iconic character — but that tribute will now also extend to the actress herself, who died in September 2024 at the age of 89.

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“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,” Downton Abbey executive producer Gareth Neame recently told TVLine while promoting Peacock’s The Day of the Jackal. “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.”

Echoing the sentiment he initially shared shortly after Smith’s death, Neame calls her loss “the end of an era,” adding that “we will never see the like of Dame Maggie Smith ever again.” He believes that the entire Downton Abbey cast and crew’s “huge respect for her … will come across in in the next movie.”

During Downton Abbey‘s original run from 2010 to 2015, Smith’s work as Violet Crawley (aka the Dowager Countess) earned her three Primetime Emmy Awards, four Screen Actors Guild Awards and a Golden Globe Award.

What are your hopes for Downton Abbey‘s third trip to the cinema? Drop a comment with your thoughts below.

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