Publicist Says Maggie Smith Only Joking About DOWNTON ABBEY Exit

Earlier this week, that famed actress Maggie Smith implied in an interview that she would be leaving the hit series DOWNTON ABBEY after its upcoming sixth season.

"They say this is the last one, and I can't see how it could go on," the 80-year-old actress told The Sunday Times. "I mean, I certainly can't keep going." She went on to joke that her character, Violet Crawley, would probably be more than a century old after the dozen years that the period drama has spanned in its five seasons. "To my knowledge, I must be 110 by now. We're into the late 1920s," she said.

On Tuesday, Milk Publicity, which represents the series, told the Associated Press that Smith's comments were meant to be taken lightheartedly, and that she "has always been on the record as saying she'll be with the show for as long as the show runs."

Hear's hoping the Dowager Countess remains on the series for many seasons to come!

Smith can currently be seen on the big screen in "The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel," opposite Judi Dench and Richard Gear. She recently wrapped shooting on "The Lady in the Van," in which portrays an elderly homeless woman.

About the show:

DOWNTON ABBEY returns for an epic fifth season of intimately interlaced stories centered on an English country estate-a deliciously entertaining formula that has made it the highest-rated drama in PBS history. Downton Abbey, Season 5, airs Sundays, January 4 - March 1, 2015 on MASTERPIECE on PBS.

DOWNTON ABBEY Season 5 features returning stars Maggie Smith, Hugh Bonneville, Michelle Dockery, Elizabeth McGovern, Jim Carter, Laura Carmichael, Joanne Froggatt, Allen Leech, Robert James-Collier, Penelope Wilton, Phyllis Logan, Lily James, Brendan Coyle, Lesley Nicol, Sophie McShera, Samantha Bond, Ed Speleers, Kevin Doyle, Raquel Cassidy, David Robb, Tom Cullen, Julian Ovenden, Daisy Lewis, Douglas Reith, Jeremy Swift, and Andrew Scarborough.

This acclaimed ensemble is joined by guest stars Harriet Walter (Atonement), reprising her role as Lady Shackleton, and Peter Egan (Death at a Funeral), who returns as Lord Flintshire, together with completely new characters played by Richard E. Grant (Girls), Anna Chancellor (The Hour), and Rade Sherbedgia (24).

Photo courtesy of PBS

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