‘Downton Abbey’ Producer Reveals Maggie Smith Was ‘Relieved’ to Be Killed Off in ‘A New Era’ Movie

According to Downton Abbey producer Gareth Neame, Maggie Smith wasn’t too sad about saying goodbye to her character, Violet Crawley, in Downton Abbey: A New Era.

“This was a terribly easy one, because she used to find the whole thing so draining at times,” Neame, 57, revealed in a recent interview with the Daily Mail. “Every year, when another series would come round, she’d say, ‘Oh can’t you just kill me off?’ So, when we eventually did, I think part of her might have been quite relieved.”

Smith, 89, starred in all six seasons of the beloved period drama from 2010 to 2015, which followed the lives of the Crawley family and their staff amid the backdrop of historical events such as the sinking of the Titanic, World War I and more.

Smith went on to reprise her role in the show’s first two spinoff films, 2019’s Downton Abbey and 2022’s Downton Abbey: A New Era. Neame served as a producer on both the show and its subsequent movies.

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In A New Era, Violet was unable to travel to a villa in the South of France she was gifted by the late Marquis de Montmirail due to her health. The film ends with Violet passing away surrounded by family and a new portrait of her being hung in Downton Abbey’s entry hall.

Smith seemingly wasn’t the only cast member who found Downton Abbey’s filming schedule to be grueling at times. “We’d spend a third to half a year in production,” Neame told the outlet, noting that the time commitment led to the show continuing in a movie format rather than TV.

He continued: “I knew that wasn’t going to be sustainable forever. The actors wanted to do other things.”

Smith’s only acting credit since A New Era is the 2023 film The Miracle Club. Because of her character’s death, she is not set to return for the franchise’s third film installment, which was announced back in May and is currently in production.

“It feels amazing, a tad emotional,” Michelle Dockery, who plays Mary Crawley, stated of the third film in a social media announcement video, which featured footage of the cast at the table read. “It’s wonderful all to be back together again. You come back together and it’s like no time has passed at all.”

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Along with Dockery, 42, other returning cast members include Hugh Bonneville (Robert Crawley, Lord Grantham), Elizabeth McGovern (Lady Cora), Laura Carmichael (Lady Edith), Allen Leech (Tom Branson) and Penelope Wilton (Isobel Crawley).

Additional cast includes Jim Carter (Mr. Carson), Phyllis Logan (Mrs. Hughes), Joanne Froggatt (Anna Bates), Brendan Coyle (Mr. Bates), Sophie McShera (Daisy Parker), Michael Fox (Andy Parker), Lesley Nicol (Mrs. Patmore), Robert James-Collier (Thomas Barrow), Raquel Cassidy (Phyllis Baxter) and Kevin Doyle (Mr. Molesley).

In June, it was announced that the film — the title of which has yet to be revealed — will hit theaters on September 12, 2025.