UPDATE on Maggie Smith’s Rumored Exit From DA (April 16, 2012)
I won’t lie, I am feeling pretty insecure right now in the news world. Apparently the Daily Mail is not a credible source. I have just come upon a link from the New York Times, stating that the studio which produces DA has said Maggie is NOT planning to leave but remarked : “A press representative for Carnival Films said on Monday that the Daily Mail report was “complete nonsense,” adding, “We never comment on future story lines but it’s not true that she’s leaving.” “
I have to say that I am going to believe whatever I hear when I see it!!!
Here is the link: http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/04/16/maggie-smith-departing-downtown-abbey-studio-says-not-true/
UPDATE on The Dowager’s Rumored Departure (April 14, 2012)
I just ran in to a post that was published a few hours ago from the Daily Mail, UK. I still cannot believe that Maggie is leaving and I do not think I actually will believe it until it happens. However, it is my job to update this “rumor” that I cannot bring myself to post in the “news” section. What makes it hard for me to believe is something that Fellowes said just last month:
“I can’t pretend it won’t be a knife in my heart when she decides to move on,” said Fellowes. “But in dramatic life as in anything else, you just have to get on with it, really. If she leaves and they want the show to continue, we will have to carry on. But I will be very sorry.”
I do not know how credible the source is, so I will let you all decide for yourself:
Maggie Smith Has Yet To Sign For Seasons 4 and 5
In the beginning of March, the gossip poo poo hit the fan as rumors that Downton Abbey was now extended through a fifth season went viral. Coming from a series that was set to only be 3 seasons, this is good news for us Downton fans. However, along with that headline came the knowledge or “knowledge” that Maggie Smith and several others had yet to sign a contract for those seasons.
There are people who are afraid of the dowagers demise in season 3, especially with the admittance that someone key is going to die. However, I personally think we are really jumping the gun by pulling out our mourning attire so soon.
Let’s not get our British panties in an uproar just yet.
Here are a few details I would like to point out about this rumor:
- We have not even made it to season 3, why are we in a panic over a season that won’t air until 2014?
- Gossip columnists are singling out Maggie Smith and Dan Stevens because they are beloved characters we would be sad to lose. However the list of unsigned is actually quite long.
- There is a reason that Dame Maggie Smith has yet to sign her contract: she is Dame Maggie Smith. In saying that, she knows how much she is worth and by all that is holy I refuse to believe she is going to die so soon!
- It has been spread by gossip columnists, should we really invest all of our hopes and dreams in such an unreliable source? Not sure of the answer? It is NO, we shouldn’t.
- A spokesperson for ITV actually said that they have not even commissioned a fourth and fifth season and that if and when they do, they would be “a long way off”
So, in the words of our beloved Dowager Countess, “Don’t be a defeatist dear, it’s very middle class”
