Dame Maggie Smith, who charmed the audience with her acting for over seven decades, will be given a special tribute in the third Downton Abbey film, said executive producer Gareth Neame.
As per Variety, executive producer Gareth Neame confirmed that the third film will include a tribute to both the character and to Smith herself.
"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 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."
Smith died at the age of 89 this September. She is well known for her roles in the Harry Potter franchise, Hook, Sister Act, and Downton Abbey in which she portrayed the role of Violet Crawley, Dowager Countess of Grantham, and countless other movies and stage productions.
Later in her career, she played a cantankerous retiree in The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (2011), delighting audiences with her wit and charm. Her television work was also impressive.
In addition to her Emmy-winning role in Downton Abbey, Smith starred in My House in Umbria, which also earned her an Emmy Award. She was nominated for other television roles, including as Mrs. Venable in Suddenly Last Summer and as Betsey Trotwood in the BBC miniseries David Copperfield, where she worked alongside a young Daniel Radcliffe before he was cast as Harry Potter. She was last seen in The Miracle Club (2023).
The Downton Abbey TV series began airing in 2010. The series was later adapted into movies. The first film released in 2019. Followed by another installment in 2022, titled, Downton Abbey: A New Era.
The plot of The Downton Abbey followed the lives of aristocratic Crawley family and their servants. It is set in the fictional Yorkshire country estate of Downton Abbey between 1912 and 1926.