After five seasons, it could be that Dame Maggie Smith, who plays the sharp-tongued Dowager Countess of Grantham, could very well be leaving the popular British costume drama. In a recent interview, Smith hinted at the possibility she will depart from "Downton Abbey" ahead of the sixth season.

In a recent interview with the Sunday Times, Smith, 80, said it should be time for the dowager countess to leave the show, according to E! News. She explained the dowager countess, known for witty retorts and her banter with Mrs. Crawley, is getting very old and may be time for her passing.

"They say this is the last one, and I can't see how it could go on," she said. "I mean, I certainly can't keep going. To my knowledge, I must be 110 by now. We're into the late 1920s."

Though not quite 110, the dowager could possibly be pushing 90 by the start of the sixth season, as she was a debutante in the 1860s. Though we do not know in what time period the upcoming season could be set in, it would make sense for it start around the time of the Great Depression, to plunge the family into another economic catastrophe.

With the dowager countess aging and her potential love story with Prince Kuragin at an end, it could be time for the dowager to go.

Talking with The New York Times, creator and writer Julian Fellowes explains he does not know when the show will end, despite the fact he has already started work on an NBC series.

"It's not really my decision. I don't own 'Downton Abbey' now. NBC Universal [which owns Carnival Films] owns 'Downton Abbey.' So I could walk away, but I wouldn't walk away," he explained. "It's too much my baby. It won't go on forever -- I'm not a believer in that. But I can't immediately now tell you where the end will be."

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