Updated on 03/03 at 4:15 p.m.: Looks like the Dowager Countess isn't going anywhere. Dame Maggie Smith's publicist spoke with BuzzFeed News today to quell any rumors of the actor's leaving the show after next season. "She would stay in the show for as long as the show runs,” she said clarifying Smith's remarks to The Sunday Times. Well, good. Downton isn't really Downton without its sassy Dowager spilling the proverbial tea. (BuzzFeed News)
Original Post Published 03/02 at 1:00 p.m.: Leave it to Downton Abbey's Dowager Countess to play coy when it comes to the future of the hit series. Maggie Smith told The Sunday Times that the future of her character — and the show! — is a big question mark after the next season, its sixth.
"They say this is the last one," Smith revealed, "and I can't see how it could go on. I mean, I certainly can't keep going. To my knowledge, I must be 110 by now. We're into the late 1920s."
Downton just wrapped its fifth season on Sunday, March 1, that — spoiler alert — left her relationship with Russian Prince Kuragin in the dust.
In an interview with The New York Times, the show's creator, Julian Fellowes, couldn't reveal much about the show's future, either. "It won't go on forever — I'm not a believer in that," Fellowes said. "But, I can't immediately now tell you where the end will be." For him, the prospect of continuing the story after World War II would mean creating "a different series."
For now, we'll just have to patiently wait and trust the fate of the show is in good hands. After all, Smith's character can "face reality far better than most men." Ain't that the truth. (People)
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