Downton Abbey Season 5: Is Downton Abbey Coming To An End In The Next Season? Lady Violet Actress Maggie Smith Says: 'I Should Have Been Dead Years Ago!'

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BY L. Martinez Nov 12, 2014 08:04 AM EST

Is Downton Abbey coming to an end soon? It seems like the show could be very well on its way out! Although the show has been recently renewed for another season, there seems to be a drop in viewers' interest in what happens to the Grantham family and their servants. The most recent evidence of this is that Downton Abbey season 5's finale episode recently experienced a dip in ratings. The finale episode drew 8.29 million viewers which accounted for a 35.8 percent share. Compare this to Season 4's finale episode which had 9.8 million viewers and a 40.2 percent share. All in all the ratings for the show have been on the downward trend.

One Downton Abbey actor even sees the end coming soon. Allen Leech, who plays Tom Branson on the show admits that he thinks the show would and should be ending soon. In an interview with E! Online at the recently concluded BAFTA Los Angeles Jaguar Britannia Awards, Leech said, "In my heart of hearts, I can't see it going more than two [seasons] more," Leech shared. "I think the period of time we want to tell, we're coming to the end that us as actors we can keep playing these characters." Downton Abbey season 5 is set up until he Christmas of 1925, more than a decade having passed since the show started season 1 in 1912.

Leech shares that even veteran actor Maggie Smith thinks her character should have been long dead by this time! "Maggie Smith turned to me on one of our last days of filming this season and said: 'I must be 196 years old by now. What's in the water here?'" Leech shared. "I said, 'I don't know, Maggie,' and she goes: 'It's ridiculous. I should have been dead years ago.'"

It may very well be that Downton Abbey season 5 is the penultimate season. Showrunner Julian Fellowes admitted that the next season might be the last one for the ITV drama. "If there is a sixth season, it may be our last," Fellowes said in an interview with Huffington Post.