( CNN ) She 's leaving . She 's not leaving . Dame Maggie Smith , whose tart-tongued Lady Violet Crawley has most of the best lines on `` Downton Abbey , '' caused a fuss this week when she implied that her beloved character wo n't be around much longer . `` I mean , ( my character ) certainly ca n't keep going , '' Smith told the Sunday Times . `` To my knowledge , I must be 110 by now . We 're into the late 1920s . '' No more Dowager Countess ? ! ? You could almost hear the genteel wails of protest on both sides of the Atlantic . The speculation about Smith was hurriedly squashed by a `` Downton '' publicist , who said Smith , 80 , has agreed to stay with the series `` for as long as the show runs . '' But that did n't stop rumors about the demise of `` Downton '' itself from continuing to crop up . Smith even hinted during her interview with the Times that the next season of the hit show would be its last . `` They say this is the last one , and I ca n't see how it could go on , '' Smith let drop . Creator Julian Fellowes is developing another period drama , `` The Gilded Age , '' for NBC and has been noncommittal about how much longer the show might endure beyond season six , which is filming now . `` It wo n't go on forever -- I 'm not a believer in that , '' he told The New York Times in a recent interview . `` But I ca n't immediately now tell you where the end will be . '' It is hard to imagine `` Downton , '' which just wrapped its fifth season on PBS in the United States , without the wit and wisdom of Lady Violet , whose acerbic commentary leaves few around her unscathed . So let 's hope Smith just misspoke . And until season six , which airs this fall in the UK and early next year in the United States , here are some of our favorite Dowager Countess zingers . -- Isobel : `` How you hate to be wrong . '' Lady Violet : `` I would n't know , I 'm not familiar with the sensation . '' -- Robert : `` They do say there 's a wild man inside all of us . '' Lady Violet : `` If only he would stay inside . '' -- Isobel : `` I admire it when young people stand up for their principles . '' Lady Violet : `` Principles are like prayers ; noble , of course , but awkward at a party . '' -- Lady Violet ( to Cora ) : `` I 'm so looking forward to seeing your mother again . When I 'm with her , I 'm reminded of the virtues of the English . '' Matthew : `` But is n't she American ? '' Lady Violet : `` Exactly . '' -- Isobel : `` I take that as a compliment . '' Lady Violet : `` I must have said it wrong . ''
Maggie Smith causes fuss by saying next season of `` Downton Abbey '' may be her last . The actress has been a regular on the ITV soap since its debut in 1963, and is currently playing Lady Mary Crawley - who was played by Dame Maggie Smith.