Downton Abbey producer Gareth Neame has been opening up about the hit period drama, where he revealed Dame Maggie Smith‘s surprising reaction to being told her character would be killed off.
Speaking to the Daily Mail, Neame touched on the 2022 film Downton Abbey: A New Era, in which Smith’s matriarch, Violet Crawley, the Dowager Countess of Grantham, dies from a terminal illness. While it was a tough moment to watch for viewers, Neame said that Smith, now 89, took it in her stride.
“This was a terribly easy one because she used to find the whole thing so draining at times,” Neame recalled of telling Smith her character would be killed off in the 2022 movie.
He added, “Every year, when another series would come round, [Smith would] say: ‘Oh can’t you just kill me off?’ So when we eventually did, I think part of her might have been quite relieved.”
Neame explained that Downton Abbey‘s strenuous filming schedule is why making any more TV series isn’t sustainable. While he admitted that the show’s British broadcaster, ITV, really wanted more series, Neame said it just wasn’t possible.
“We’d spend a third to half a year in production. I knew that wasn’t going to be sustainable forever. The actors wanted to do other things,” he stated.
Instead, the hit show, created by Julian Fellowes, has returned in film form, with the third movie set for worldwide release on September 12, 2025. Filming began on the third movie back in June.
Hugh Bonneville, Dominic West, Elizabeth McGovern, Michelle Dockery, Laura Carmichael, Jim Carter, Phyllis Logan, Robert James-Colier, and Joanne Froggat, who recently announced she is pregnant with her first child, will all reprise their roles for the third film.
In addition, Allen Leech, Penelope Wilton, Lesley Nicol, Michael Fox, Raquel Cassidy, Brendan Coyle, Kevin Doyle, Harry Hadden-Paton, Sophie McShera, and Douglas Reith will be back at Downton.
According to the Daily Mail, new cast members joining the film franchise include Joely Richardson, Alessandro Nivola, and House of the Dragon actors Simon Russell Beale and Arty Froushan.
Downton Abbey originally aired for six seasons between 2010 and 2015. The first movie was released in 2019, with the follow-up premiering in 2022.
In addition to her role in Downton Abbey, Smith is best known for playing Minerva McGonagall in the Harry Potter film series. She won Oscars for Best Actress for The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie in 1969 and Best Supporting Actress for California Suite in 1978 and was nominated for Othello (1965), Travels with My Aunt (1972), A Room with a View (1985), and Gosford Park (2001).