{"id":1988436,"date":"2025-08-30T14:42:38","date_gmt":"2025-08-30T14:42:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=1988436"},"modified":"2025-08-30T14:42:38","modified_gmt":"2025-08-30T14:42:38","slug":"two-big-ways-the-new-downton-abbey-movie-will-pay-tribute-to-dame-maggie-smith","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/two-big-ways-the-new-downton-abbey-movie-will-pay-tribute-to-dame-maggie-smith\/","title":{"rendered":"Two Big Ways The New Downton Abbey Movie Will Pay Tribute To Dame Maggie Smith"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div data-article-body=\"true\">\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\"><i>When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission.<\/i><\/p>\n<figure class=\"relative mb-4\">\n<div class=\"relative\"><button aria-label=\"View larger image\" class=\"group absolute bottom-3 right-3 size-10 md:size-[50px] lg:inset-0 lg:size-full lg:bg-transparent\" data-ylk=\"elm:expand;itc:1;sec:image-lightbox;slk:lightbox-open;\"><span class=\"absolute bottom-0 right-0 rounded-full bg-white p-3 opacity-100 shadow-elevation-3 transition-opacity duration-300 group-hover:block group-hover:opacity-100 md:p-[17px] lg:bottom-6 lg:right-6 lg:bg-white\/90 lg:p-5 lg:opacity-0 lg:shadow-none\"><svg viewbox=\"0 0 22 22\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"size-4 lg:size-6\" width=\"22\" height=\"22\"><path d=\"M12.372.92c0-.506.41-.916.915-.916L21 0l-.004 7.712a.917.917 0 0 1-1.832 0V3.183l-6.827 6.828-1.349-1.348 6.828-6.828h-4.529a.915.915 0 0 1-.915-.915M1.835 17.816l6.828-6.828 1.349 1.349-6.829 6.827h4.529a.915.915 0 0 1 0 1.831L0 21l.004-7.713a.916.916 0 0 1 1.831 0z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/button><dialog aria-label=\"Modal Dialog\" aria-modal=\"true\" class=\"fixed inset-0 z-4 size-full max-h-none max-w-none bg-white hidden\"\/><\/div><figcaption class=\"relative text-sm mt-1 pr-2.5\">\n<p>Credit: Focus Features<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Much talk has already come down the pipeline about the <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.yahoo.com\/entertainment\/film-legend-dame-maggie-smith-134740546.html\" data-ylk=\"slk:late, great Dame Maggie Smith;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas;outcm:mb_qualified_link;_E:mb_qualified_link;ct:story;\" class=\"link  yahoo-link\"><u>late, great Dame Maggie Smith<\/u><\/a> as <em>Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale<\/em> prepares to hit the <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.yahoo.com\/entertainment\/upcoming-movies-2025-movie-release-130453990.html\" data-ylk=\"slk:2025 movie release schedule;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas;outcm:mb_qualified_link;_E:mb_qualified_link;ct:story;\" class=\"link  yahoo-link\"><u>2025 movie release schedule<\/u><\/a>. Creator Julian Fellowes worked with the onscreen icon for years before <em>Downton Abbey 2<\/em> said goodbye to the Dowager Countess, and he has revealed the new movie will pay tribute to the actress in two notable ways.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">First, if you can recall the events of the last movie <em>The New Era<\/em>, it ended with the Dowager Countess ensuring her son that his father was absolutely his father and he was not the result of an affair. Shortly thereafter, the Dowager Countess passed away. The movie actually ended on a shot of a new portrait of Violet in the entry hall, and that her spirit (and one notable portrait) will very much remain when <em>The Grand Finale<\/em> unveils its story with the fans that have stuck with it for years.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"mb-4 border-l-2 pl-5 italic text-tertiary\">\n<div class=\"\">\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">I felt we would miss Maggie very much while making this. And we did, but she\u2019s in the film \u2014 in spirit. They refer to her and we have the portrait of her in the hall.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Fellowes was speaking with <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"google.com\/url?q=https:\/\/www.thetimes.com\/life-style\/health-fitness\/article\/julian-fellowes-interview-downton-abbey-essential-tremor-xtt2mvp5m&amp;sa=D&amp;source=docs&amp;ust=1756232241225762&amp;usg=AOvVaw1JeFci8nMyOCY5iPA544kM\" data-ylk=\"slk:The Times;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">The Times <\/a>ahead of <em>Downton Abbey 3<\/em>\u2019s big release when he spoke about Maggie Smith\u2019s presence within the film. He&#8217;s not the first person involved with the movie to mention it was a highlight to pay &#8220;tribute&#8221; to Smith, as <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.yahoo.com\/entertainment\/downton-abbey-3-michelle-dockery-193634439.html\" data-ylk=\"slk:Michelle Dockery previously confirmed this;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas;outcm:mb_qualified_link;_E:mb_qualified_link;ct:story;\" class=\"link  yahoo-link\">Michelle Dockery previously confirmed this<\/a>. Gareth Naeme also previously suggested her passing in the franchise and in real life a<a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.yahoo.com\/entertainment\/dowager-countess-long-glue-held-234404064.html\" data-ylk=\"slk:dded a layer of &quot;poignancy&quot;;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas;outcm:mb_qualified_link;_E:mb_qualified_link;ct:story;\" class=\"link  yahoo-link\">dded a layer of &#8220;poignancy&#8221;<\/a> and weight to the new film.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">However, what Fellowes is giving fans is a few new details. Fans should also stick around during the end credits, as the longtime writer, director and producer also revealed a second way the movie will pay tribute to the actress, who died at 89.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"mb-4 border-l-2 pl-5 italic text-tertiary\">\n<div class=\"\">\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">[The credits will carry a tribute ]because she was so much to do with the show\u2019s success.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">It\u2019s hard telling if that\u2019s a message or video memory situation, but I think it is fair to say the Dowager Countess (and in particular her relationship with Lady Mary) was long the most fundamental and intriguing aspect of the series. Sure, we care about Robert and Cora. Yes, we love Tom and the downstairs crew, in particular Carson, but the Dowager Countess had the best lines in the whole series and was the heart of what <em>Downton<\/em> was about.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">That seems to be true for the cast, too, as Hugh Bonneville said that when the show originally wrapped, he had a champagne-filled moment with his TV mother, and was able to <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.cinemablend.com\/movies\/the-sweet-conversation-hugh-bonneville-had-with-maggie-smith-after-she-shot-her-final-downton-abbey-scene\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:tell Smith how &quot;remarkable&quot; it was to have her as a TV mom;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">tell Smith how &#8220;remarkable&#8221; it was to have her as a TV mom<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Even when the <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.cinemablend.com\/movies\/downton-abbey-a-new-era-ending-explained\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Downton Abbey: A New Era ended;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \"><em>Downton Abbey: A New Era <\/em>ended<\/a>, I never really envisioned there would be a film without her. Yet here we are, three years after the events in the last film, and the 1930s have arrived in <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.cinemablend.com\/news\/2480188\/downton-abbey-video-recaps-everything-you-need-to-remember-before-the-movie\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:the Downton timeline;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">the <em>Downton<\/em> timeline<\/a>. It\u2019s a little bittersweet the series is ending at all, but it tugs at my heartstrings to know Smith wasn\u2019t there for it. I\u2019m so glad they found ways to nod at her memory and contribution to the long-running franchise as a whole.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><em> \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em> \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.yahoo.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Credit: Focus Features Much talk has already come down the pipeline about the late, great Dame Maggie Smith as Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale prepares to hit the 2025 movie release schedule. Creator Julian Fellowes worked with the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1988437,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25172],"tags":[358624,358625,334473],"class_list":["post-1988436","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment","tag-dame-maggie-smith","tag-dowager-countess","tag-julian-fellowes"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Two-Big-Ways-The-New-Downton-Abbey-Movie-Will-Pay.jpeg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1988436","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1988436"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1988436\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1988437"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1988436"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1988436"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1988436"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}