Hugh Bonneville reveals the new Downton Abbey film 'will probably be the last' and says it is 'a great lasting tribute' to the late Dame Maggie Smith

Hugh Bonneville has said the new Downton Abbey movie will be a 'great lasting tribute' to the late Dame Maggie Smith after she died aged 89 last month. 

The actor, 60, revealed filming for the third film of the hit period drama was finished this summer and will 'close off all the stories'. 

Hugh portrayed Robert Crawley, Earl of Grantham, the son of Dame Maggie's character Violet Crawley, Dowager Countess of Grantham in the ITV series from 2010 to 2015.

Speaking on The Chris Evans Breakfast Show with The National Lottery on Virgin Radio UK, Hugh paid tribute to his late Oscar-winning co-star.

He said: 'We finished a third - and I think probably final - Downton Abbey film this summer, which will come out next September and that is a wonderful sort of closing off of all the stories, so it's a proper film for the fans.

'It's very much set in the house and saying goodbye to all these characters and we obviously say goodbye to Dame Maggie, which was very poignant on screen and now in real life.

'She'll be sorely missed. But the final film will obviously be a great lasting tribute to her.'

Following Maggie's death in September, a video resurfaced of the legendary actress admitted that she has 'never watched Downton Abbey'. 

Speaking on The Graham Norton Show in 2015, the Harry Potter icon admitted despite not watching the show, she was satisfied with the series coming to an end.

'So are you, in a way, sort of glad that Downton's over?,' the presenter asked, to which Maggie didn't hesitate to reply: 'Oh yeah.'

She added: 'No, I really am. Honestly, she was about, by the time we had finished she must have been a hundred and ten so I couldn't go on and on. 

'I couldn't! It just didn't make sense.'

When asked if she ever watched the British period drama herself, she hesitated and then gave a cheeky look to the presenter.

Graham struggled to contain his laughter, as he insisted: 'Did you not?,' but Maggie confirmed she didn't by shaking her head.

'I've got the box set. So I can watch it,' she added leaving the audience in stitches.

At the end of last month the release date for the third Downton Abbey film was revealed as filming began in Yorkshire.

The new movie will be released worldwide on September 12, 2025, with Universal Pictures UK confirming the news on Instagram.

The caption read: 'A new motion picture event. The third film in the beloved #DowntonAbbey franchise will be released only in cinemas September 12, 2025.'

Hugh, Dominic West, Elizabeth, Michelle, Laura, Jim Carter, Phyllis Logan, Robert James-Collier are to return for the hotly-anticipated movie.

Joanne Froggatt - who confirmed last week she is pregnant with her first child - Allen Leech, Penelope Wilton, Lesley Nicol, Michael Fox, Raquel Cassidy, Brendan Coyle, Kevin Doyle, Harry Hadden-Paton, Sophie McShera, and Douglas Reith will also be back at Downton.

It was revealed Paul Giamatti will also be part of the cast.

The Oscar-nominee is to reprise his role from the TV series as Cora's brother Harold Levinson.

Joely Richardson, Alessandro Nivola and House of the Dragon actors Simon Russell Beale and Arty Froushan are also expected to join the third film in the franchise.

Bosses hoped to be able to bring back some of the big name actors who appeared in the previous six seasons and two movie spin-offs.

The show, which covered the many societal changes and world events between 1912 and 1928, is back on screens next year.

The hugely successful period drama started on ITV in 2011 and has spawned six seasons and two movies.

The first two films, released in 2019 and 2022, grossed a combined $287.3 million worldwide.