Maggie Smith Is So Over 'Downton'

Update, 6/12: Being a Downton Abbey fan is like being that one dude in Monty Python who gets his arms and legs lopped off but keeps going, "'Tis but a flesh wound."

In today's painful news, Maggie Smith tells Yours magazine she's pretty well psyched for the show to end because of a reason that's legit but will no matter what seem selfish to longtime viewers who have nothing left to watch on TV. "It's not riotously funny to be in corsets and a wig. We have had a great time making the show—the cast are enchanting and all the young people are really lovely, so it was all very enjoyable on that level."

But those whalebones, though. "To tell you the truth, the corsets are agony. God knows how they lived in the days when they had to wear them all the time."

It's okay, Mags. Only a few more episodes to get through. *turns away and sobs*

P.S. So an elderly Violet Crawley sighting in The Gilded Age is off? Unless...VOICEOVER!

Original post, 4/7: Dry your tears, O weepy one—Julian Fellowes might taketh away (and taketh away some more), but deep down, he's not a bad dude.

In a recent interview with the Daily Mail, the guy who stomped on your hopes of seeing an elderly Lady Mary said he might be bringing a touch of Downton to The Gilded Age. The NBC show, now in development, is set in the late 19th century, meaning "Robert Grantham would be in his early teens, Cora would be a child. [And] a young Violet could make an appearance."

So…if my calculations are correct—and they are, of course—Violet would be in her late 30s and most likely a hot mom with a sense of adventure. (I could totally see her hobnobbing with/looking down on those nouveau-riche Vanderbilts and Rockefellers, BTW.)

Ugh, this would be so awesome. But don't tell Julian that, or else he'll never go through with it.