The film's executive producer said Smith's death gave an "added poignancy to a story that we would have planned anyway"

Related: All of Maggie Smith's best moments in Downton Abbey “The fact that Dame Maggie herself has now passed away since that time, I do think, has given a real added poignancy

The Crawleys’ return to the big screen in the third “Downton Abbey” movie next September will be bittersweet, as the producer of the hit ITV/PBS series says they will pay homage to the late Maggie Smith, who played the family matriarch Violet Crawley, the Dowager Countess of Grantham.