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Maggie Smith was kidding about leaving 'Downton Abbey,' says publicist

Maggie Smith worried "Downton Abbey" fans earlier this week when she implied that she was leaving the show after its upcoming sixth season.
/ Source: TODAY

Maggie Smith worried "Downton Abbey" fans earlier this week when she implied that she was leaving the show 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 added that her caustic 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.

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"To my knowledge, I must be 110 by now. We’re into the late 1920s," she said.

However, Milk Publicity, which represents the series, told the Associated Press Tuesday 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."

That hopefully means we can expect many more of the Dowager Countess's hilarious zingers.

This article was originally published Mar. 3, 2015 at 3:51 p.m. ET.