Then, last year, Focus Features confirmed that production on the third and final film, titled Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale, was underway, with Paul Giamatti reprising his role as Cora’s England-averse American brother, Harold Levinson, alongside Dominic West (who will be revisiting his part from Downton Abbey: A New Era), Elizabeth McGovern, Hugh Bonneville, Michelle Dockery, Laura Carmichael, Jim Carter, Phyllis Logan, Joanne Froggatt, Penelope Wilton, et al.

Conspicuous in her absence from that announcement, however, was The Crown’s Imelda Staunton, who appeared as lady-in-waiting Maud Bagshaw in both Downton Abbey: The Motion Picture and Downton Abbey: A New Era, and is, of course, married to Jim Carter of Carson fame. Back in March 2024, she told BBC Radio 2’s Zoe Ball that, yes, “There will be a final film—there you go.” Ball, in terribly British fashion, then apologized if she had prompted Staunton to speak out of NDA-clad turn. The Oscar nominee’s Violet Crawley-esque response? “I don’t care.” She’s sure to be missed by fans, as will, of course, be the late, great Maggie Smith.