Maggie Smith Says She Will Leave ‘Downton Abbey’ After Next Season.

[elleng]

The Dowager Countess is done and there’s no use in trying to convince her otherwise. Maggie Smith, who plays the quip-ready matriarch on the hit British series that just finished its fifth season in the United States, said in an interview with The Sunday Times that she was done with the character following the upcoming season.

“They say this is the last one, and I can’t see how it could go on,” she said.

Neither the show’s creator, Julian Fellowes, nor an executive producer, Gareth Neame, has confirmed that the show will run past Season 6. In an interview with The New York Times, Mr. Fellowes said, “It’s not really my decision. I don’t own ‘Downton Abbey’ now. NBC Universal owns ‘Downton Abbey.’ So I could walk away, but I wouldn’t walk away. It’s too much my baby. It won’t go on forever — I’m not a believer in that. But I can’t immediately now tell you where the end will be.” . .

As to her character’s age, Ms. Smith, 80, said in her Sunday Times interview, “I mean, I certainly can’t keep going. To my knowledge I must be 110 by now.”

http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/03/02/maggie-smith-says-she-will-leave-downton-abbey-after-next-season/?module=WatchingPortal&region=c-column-middle-span-region&pgType=Homepage&action=click&mediaId=thumb_square&state=quote&contentPlacement=2&version=internal&contentCollection=artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com&contentId=http%3A%2F%2Fartsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com%2F2015%2F03%2F02%2Fmaggie-smith-says-she-will-leave-downton-abbey-after-next-season%2F&eventName=Watching-article-click

[DebJ]

1. Next season is the last...

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2015/01/29/downton-abbey-ending_n_6568420.html


The next series of ‘Downton Abbey’ will be the last, according to reports.

The ITV period drama, which stars Hugh Bonneville and Dame Maggie Smith, will end after the sixth series airs later this year.

The final instalment is set to be filmed over the spring and summer and will hit our screens in September.

A source told The Mirror: “It’s an open secret that Downton is ending this year.

"Some of the actors are keen to let it be known they will be available for work after the summer. Some are interested in the US, where Downton is as popular as it is in the UK.

“Joanne Froggatt, Edith Carmichael and Allen Leech were in Los Angeles for the [SAG] awards last week and there were several meetings about both TV and film roles.”

[niyad]

10. they could at least get all the cast members's names correct--it is laura carmichael, who

plays edith, not edith carmichael.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

3. I suppose they'll have to kill off her character

who must be older than God by now. I was sort of hoping she would run off with the Russian count. But maybe that will still happen?

[cwydro]

9. I don't want her to run off with the count!

No no no.

[niyad]

11. since she sent the prince off with his wife--probably not.

[HeiressofBickworth]

4. Probably just as well

Mr. Fellowes said he doesn't own it anymore. NBC Universal, the new owner, will undoubtedly screw it up. It has been seen over and over again in TV land. Major changes in ownership or writers means that the essential spirit that attracted so many audiences will no longer be represented in the new version. I'd rather see a series stop before it runs dry and becomes a parody of itself.

One thing I would like to see at the end of the final season is a montage of "how it all turned out", similar to the last episode of Six Feet Under.

[oldandhappy]

5. Does this mean they have to murder her??!!

[elleng]

6. Doubt it!

As she's said, she's figured she's about 101 years old 'now!'

[Sheldon Cooper]

7. She also said that the show is "in the late 20s now".

Which leads me to think that Tom Branson will have gone to America at the end of 1924 and returned after a few years. Allen Leech has said that he's still with the show and plans to stay until it's over, which had me wondering how they'd do that if he and Sybbie are in America. But if several years have passed, he could already be back at Downton to live, for some unknown reason life in America not having worked out for them.

But that kinda kills my plot line of Edith marrying Brancaster's land agent and having him living at Downton and managing the property with Mary and the Earl. There'd be no need for that if Tom is back.

Speaking of Mary, will she hook up with the handsome and mysterious Henry Talbot? He's supposed to be on the show next season - could there be wedding bells?

[Paladin]

8. Just as well. The series is past its prime, as it is.

I thought the two-hour season finale last Sunday, with its frantic efforts to tie up virtually every story line with an Ascot knot, was sub-par.

[Phentex]

13. I wondered if I'm just tired of it...

I found that episode so predictable. I actually fast forwarded through the Anna storyline.

It's been funny and wonderful but I think it's done.

[Paladin]

14. I was so tired of that servant couple trading places in jail.....

....I was ready to see them both go to the gallows. Enough, already......

[DebJ]

15. Oh no! My husband and I and all of our friends who watch it thought it was brilliant! n/t

[Sherman A1]

12. I read on EW website that

this is not fact.