Dowager Countess To Say Goodbye to Downton Abbey

For five years now, Downton Abbey has been a raging sensation on both sides of the Atlantic. Through a lot of drama and quite a bit of death, the period piece has continued to capativate its audience. If there's one character that stands out, however, for her command of the screen, it's the Dowager Countess of Grantham, played by Maggie Smith. Violet's biting tongue and profound sensibilities (and sensitivities) have secured her position as a fan-favorite, but Smith told the Sunday Times that next season will be her last.

"They say this is the last one," Smith said of the upcoming sixth season, "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."

But just because her time at Downton is coming to a close doesn't meant that Smith, aged 80, plans on withdrawing from acting. "The bleakness of not doing it," she said, "and missing out on the friendships that you make, is too much to bear."

[H/T Variety]