‘Downton Abbey’ film to pay tribute to Dame Maggie Smith

Los Angeles: 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’ movie, says executive producer Gareth Neame.

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.

Neame said that it was already planned for the film to have a special mention for Smith’s character Violet Crawley, who died in the previous season. But now the death of the actor has given a ‘real poignancy’ to the story.

“The fact that Dame Maggie herself has now passed away since that time, I do think, has added a real poignancy to a story that we would have planned anyway. The loss of the Dowager, it now feels far more significant than you see actors playing characters mourning the family matriarch,” he told ‘TVLine’.

He added, “But I also see actors mourning the matriarch of the show and it feels more genuine and meaningful.”

‘The Downton Abbey’ TV series began airing in 2010. The series was later adapted into movies. The first film will be released in 2019. Followed by another instalment in 2022, titled, ‘Downton Abbey: A New Era’. The plot of the series follows the lives of the aristocratic Crawley family and their servants. It’s set in the fictional Yorkshire country estate of Downton Abbey between 1912 and 1926.