Downton Abbey’s Michelle Dockery Says Grand Finale Movie Is ‘Tribute’ to Late Maggie Smith

I felt her spir­it was there,” Eliz­a­beth McGov­ern says of film­ing the upcom­ing big-screen con­clu­sion to ‘Down­ton Abbey’

• The cast and film­mak­ers behind the upcom­ing Down­ton Abbey: The Grand Finale cel­e­brate the film in PEO­PLE’s new spe­cial issue, out now
• Michelle Dock­ery says the new movie “is part­ly a trib­ute” to Mag­gie Smith, who died in Sep­tem­ber 2024 after film­ing wrapped
• “I felt her spir­it was there,” says actress Eliz­a­beth McGov­ern

The Down­ton Abbey cast says fans can expect trib­utes to come for the late Mag­gie Smith. 

“I felt her spir­it was there, and we were always ref­er­enc­ing her,” Eliz­a­beth McGov­ern, 64, says in PEO­PLE’s new spe­cial edi­tion about the mak­ing of Down­ton Abbey: The Grand Finale, whichis in the­aters Sept. 12. 

The Eng­lish dame died on Sept. 27, 2024, at age 89, just a few months after film­ing wrapped on what will be the big-screen con­clu­sion to Julian Fel­lowes’ hit PBS dra­ma. Her char­ac­ter, Dowa­ger Count­ess Vio­let Craw­ley, died at the end of 2022’s A New Era, the sequel to 2019’s first Down­ton Abbey movie.

A pic­ture of her is glimpsed in a teas­er trail­er for the Simon Cur­tis-direct­ed Grand Finale, which reunites most of the franchise’s reg­u­lar cast. “This film is part­ly a trib­ute to Mag­gie and to the dowa­ger,” says Michelle Dock­ery, 43, who returns as Mary Craw­ley

Among those also back at the Craw­ley res­i­dence will be cast mem­bers Hugh Bon­neville, Lau­ra Carmichael, Jim Carter, Bren­dan Coyle, Kevin Doyle, Joanne Frog­gatt, Robert James-Col­lier, Allen Leech, Phyl­lis Logan, Les­ley Nicol, Dominic West, Dame Pene­lope Wilton and Paul Gia­mat­ti.

Join­ing them this time around are Joe­ly Richard­son, Alessan­dro Nivola, Simon Rus­sell Beale and Arty Froushan.

Sophie McShera, who plays Daisy Mason, recalls that Smith was much of the cast’s most cov­et­ed scene part­ner through­out film­ing the series, which aired from 2010 to 2015.

“On the way home every­one was going, ‘You’ve got a scene with Mag­gie, you’ve got a scene with Mag­gie!’ ” says the actress, 40. “I remem­ber just feel­ing so hon­ored.”

Wilton who played Iso­bel Craw­ley on the series, recalls that Smith “had the best lines” as the Dowa­ger Count­ess. “Most­ly I’m on the receiv­ing end with my mouth falling open at her audac­i­ty,” says The Best Exot­ic Marigold Hotel star, 79. “We always had a good laugh because the scenes were so spiked.”

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