&34;The challenge was holding back the tears,&34; star Michelle Dockery tells EW. How Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale creates a poignant conclusion for the worl

"The challenge was holding back the tears," star Michelle Dockery tells EW.

How Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale creates a poignant conclusion for the world, honors Maggie Smith

"The challenge was holding back the tears," star Michelle Dockery tells EW.

By Maureen Lee Lenker

Maureen Lee Lenker

Maureen Lee Lenker is a senior writer at ** with over seven years of experience in the entertainment industry. An award-winning journalist, she's written for Turner Classic Movies, *Ms. Magazine*, *The Hollywood Reporter*, and more. She's worked at EW for six years covering film, TV, theater, music, and books. The author of EW's quarterly romance review column, "Hot Stuff," Maureen holds Master's degrees from both the University of Southern California and the University of Oxford. Her debut novel, *It Happened One Fight*, is now available. Follow her for all things related to classic Hollywood, musicals, the romance genre, and Bruce Springsteen.

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September 12, 2025 2:00 p.m. ET

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Michelle Dockery in 'Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale'. Credit:

Rory Mulvey/FOCUS FEATURES LLC

- *Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale, *now in theaters, brings the franchise to a close — at least, for this generation of characters.

- The film and the story end with a poignant walk down memory lane.

- Here's why creator Julian Fellowes wanted to pay tribute to the show's history and late star, Maggie Smith.

**This article contains spoilers about *Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale.***

Parting is such sweet sorrow.

That certainly rings true for the characters of *Downton Abbey*, whom audiences will officially bid farewell to with *Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale. *The film, now in theaters, closes the book on this generation of the Crawley family — and it does so with a poignant sense of its own legacy.

In the film's final sequence, we see Lady Mary (Michelle Dockery), now truly the head of the Grantham family, descend the iconic main staircase and she's flooded with memories — listening to the gramophone with first love Matthew (Dan Stevens), sister Sybil (Jessica Brown Findlay) smiling, the Dowager Countess (Maggie Smith) giving her a wry look.

The movie uses clips from the franchise's 15-year history to take audiences and Mary for a poignant trip down memory lane. "We felt that this was the right way to finish," creator Julian Fellowes tells *. *"To remind people of what they had enjoyed over the years."

The Grantham family in 'Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale'.

Rory Mulvey/FOCUS FEATURES LLC

Adds Dockery: "It's such a beautiful moment and such a tribute to all the other characters that have been part of the journey. But particularly Maggie Smith — it's a tribute to her really."

The scene was Dockery's last day of filming on location at Highclere Castle, the stately home that has served as the fictional Downton Abbey. And it presented quite a challenge for the actress.

"It was quite a difficult thing to shoot in many ways," says Dockery. "There weren't any actors to play off. Simon Curtis, our brilliant director, guided me through what they were hoping it would look like, because they had to draw footage of the show over the 15 years to find the perfect memory of those characters. Shooting the scene was him just talking through each moment of what Mary's seeing."

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What helped, though, was that production played the score over speakers for her while filming. "Mary's the sort of character that doesn't burst into ugly crying, and that's all I wanted to do," she admits. "The challenge was holding back the tears and showing emotion, but not taking it too far."

Dockery, on the other hand, let the tears flow when watching the final result. "Watching it for the first time was really emotional," she says. "Hugh Bonneville and I, at that point in the film, we held hands till the end of the movie. It was moving to see those memories and some moments in the show that I haven't seen in years."

Fellowes hopes the bittersweet moment that Mary experiences will mirror that of the audience. "Part of having a successful career, or life for that matter, is knowing when something's over," he reflects. "It's a sweet sorrow at the end, when you are crying, but it doesn't make you think you're doing the wrong thing."

'Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale' trailer.

Still, Curtis didn't want to tip anything into too maudlin territory, given that the goal of the film was to send all the characters off into long, happy lives.

"The audience was saying goodbye to them. The actors were saying goodbye to them, but the characters weren't saying goodbye to each other," he explains. "So, we had to moderate that. They're going on to live their lives. I wanted to find a way to give a sense that their lives will continue."

To that end, Curtis and Fellowes discussed what potential scenes and images might be the right fit for the sequence, but it was Curtis who made the final selections in the editing room. One thing that was never in question was the decision to end on the portrait of the Dowager Countess, as long portrayed by the late Maggie Smith.

Maggie Smith on 'Downton Abbey'. PBS

Smith's character was given a tearful deathbed scene in the previous film, *Downton Abbey: A New Era, *but she was still alive while this final film was in production. She died shortly after filming wrapped, leading Fellowes and Curtis to add a message beneath Violet's portrait that dedicates the film "in loving memory" to Smith.

"Mary walking out and leaving the camera on the portrait of Maggie and our tribute underneath it, that all felt very right," says Fellowes.

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"We missed her presence on set so much," says Dockery. "At the time, Maggie was still with us, so it added even more emotion for us watching it now that she's passed. She's been a huge part of our lives for 15 years, and we all miss her very much."

Curtis adds: "She was an immense figure to the whole world, but certainly to everyone on both sides of the camera in the *Downton* family. We wanted to have her presence in this film, so the characters quote her. She is a presence in all their lives, just as someone in anyone's family."

*Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale* is in theaters now.**

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