As Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale nears its arrival in a few months, Elizabeth McGovern, who plays Cora Crawley, has shared how the late Dame Maggie Smith influenced the movie.
In every season of the original period drama series, as well as the first two movies that followed, Smith portrayed the Dowager Countess Violet Crawley.
In the third movie, she won’t participate for the first time because her character perished in the second film, and sadly, actress Smith passed away in 2024 before the production of this film.
Currently speaking to Deadline, McGovern expressed that making the third movie without Smith didn’t leave him with a sense that “something essential had been lost, as I had initially feared it might be without her, given how integral she is to the project.
McGovern noted that the making of The Grand Finale deviated from past productions because they skipped the usual setup scene featuring the Dowager.
She then said of Smith: “But she’s there. She’s permeates everything, definitely.”
McGovern stated emphatically that this movie marks the conclusive farewell for Downton Abbey, having been speculated among fans that they may not encounter these characters once more.
Instead, she mentioned that this would not apply if they were to do something akin to traveling back in time and having a different Maggie, given her younger self.
She mentioned that there’s been a good deal of such conversation. I can hardly wait to relax and put up my feet to witness it.
Apart from Smith, the main cast members who starred in the previous films are back for this one as well. These include Michelle Dockery, Hugh Bonneville, Elizabeth McGovern, and Laura Carmichael.
Besides Matthew Goode, who portrayed Lady Mary’s spouse Henry Talbot during the last two series and the initial movie, will be missing. A recently released preview suggests that their characters, Mary and Henry, went through a divorce, which accounts for his absence.
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2025-07-23 15:17