Hugh Bonneville has revealed that the third and final Downton Abbey film serves as a "de facto tribute" to the late Maggie Smith.

The veteran actress, who passed away on 27 September 2024 at the age of 89, played the formidable family matriarch Lady Violet Crawley in all six seasons of the ITV drama, as well as its two film adaptations. Her character's death was written into the 2022 film Downton Abbey: A New Era.

Speaking on BBC Radio 2's Breakfast Show, Bonneville - who has played Robert Crawley since the show's premiere - described the upcoming third film, Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale, as the franchise's "fondest farewell".

"We sort of moved on three times, because we moved on at the end of the TV show and we never thought the producers would wrangle us cats all back together," he said. "But they did, not once, not twice, but three times. And each film has felt like it's likely to be the last, but this one really does."

Bonneville revealed that, although Smith's character does not appear in the new film, her presence is strongly felt.

"Her character passed away in the second film, but she's referred to frequently in the third," he explained. "And then a few months after we finished filming, she passed away in real life. So it is de facto a tribute to her."

"And her presence looms like her portrait in the hall over the film, with great affection," the actor continued. "We've got such fond and quirky memories of her over the years.

The trailer for The Grand Finale offers a glimpse of this tribute, showing a painted portrait of Lady Violet hanging in the Crawley family's home.

Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale will be released in cinemas on Friday.