‘Downton Abbey’ Star Shares Surprising Thoughts on Making ‘The Grand Finale’ Without Legendary Departed Co-Star

Elizabeth McGovern doesn’t feel like Downton Abbey is missing one of its most iconic figures. The actress, who has played Cora Crawley since the show first premiered in 2010, recently reflected on filming Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale without her late costar, Dame Maggie Smith — and her perspective might surprise fans.

“She’s still very much in the atmosphere,” McGovern said in an interview, insisting that Smith’s presence continues to permeate the franchise even after her passing in September 2024. Smith’s Dowager Countess, Violet Crawley, died at the conclusion of 2022’s Downton Abbey: A New Era, which meant that the third (and reportedly final) film was already positioned to move on without her.

“I don’t feel there’s a big hole,” McGovern said. “In fact, in some ways, it sort of freed up the rest of the narrative to have a flow, because it’s not stopping for her moments. Everything she represents is there. She’s in every room, in every interaction, so it’s not like she’s not there. It’s a weird thing.”

Who Is in ‘Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale’?

Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale reunites much of the beloved ensemble: Hugh Bonneville, Michelle Dockery, Laura Carmichael, Jim Carter, Phyllis Logan, and Robert James-Collier are all back. The movie also marks the return of Paul Giamatti as Cora’s brother, Harold Levinson — a role he first played in Season 4 of the series.

“I’m really surprised that I returned at all,” Giamatti said earlier this year. “I had a very kind of marginal character, and somebody thought it was a good idea to make me very important in this [movie]. I was like, wow, this is random, I have a lot to do with the end of this whole series. I do something of real significance — good or bad, I’m not going to say! But, I do something that makes a big difference to how everything ends.”

Behind the scenes, executive producer Gareth Neame acknowledged that Smith’s real-life passing has lent unexpected emotional weight to the new film. “The fact that Dame Maggie herself has now passed away since that time, I do think, has given a real added poignancy to a story that we would have planned anyway,” he said. “The loss of the Dowager, it now feels far more significant that you see actors playing characters mourning the family matriarch. But I also see actors mourning…and it feels more genuine and more meaningful.”