We’ve known for a while now that Happy Valley will return for a third and final season on AMC+ and Acorn TV.
We now have our first look, courtesy of some photos.
In this final season of the multi-BAFTA award-winning BBC drama created by one of the UK’s most celebrated and critically acclaimed screenwriters, Sally Wainwright (Gentleman Jack), Sarah Lancashire (Julia) returns to her iconic role of Sergeant Catherine Cawood for six new episodes.
Also returning are James Norton (The Nevers) as Catherine’s nemesis, the murderer and sex-offender Tommy Lee Royce; Siobhan Finneran (Downton Abbey) as Catherine’s sister, the recovering addict Clare Cartwright, and Rhys Connah as Catherine’s sixteen-year-old grandson Ryan, eight years after he first played the role as a young boy.
In the first-look photos, Catherine is pictured with a bloodied nose in the aftermath of a police raid, while Tommy Lee Royce (James Norton) – with a radically different look – is seen in his prison cell, alongside first-look glimpses of Catherine’s sister Clare (Siobhan Finneran) and teenage grandson Ryan (Rhys Connah).
The final season of the AMC+ Original series will also see the return of Happy Valley favorites Ishia Bennison as Joyce, Shane Zaza as Shaf, Chord Melodic as Sledge, and Mete Dursun as Gorkem.
They join the previously announced new and returning cast members: Con O’Neill, George Costigan, Charlie Murphy, Derek Riddell, Karl Davies, Susan Lynch, Rick Warden, Vincent Franklin, Amit Shah, Mark Stanley, and Mollie Winnard.
Happy Valley newcomers Oliver Huntingdon (The Rising), Jack Bandeira (Sex Education), Alec Secareanu (God’s Own Country), and Anthony Flanagan (Gentleman Jack) will also appear in season three.
“When Catherine discovers the remains of a gangland murder victim in a drained reservoir, it sparks a chain of events that unwittingly leads her straight back to Tommy Lee Royce,” the logline reads.
“Her grandson Ryan is now 16 and still living with Catherine, but he has ideas of his own about what kind of relationship he wants to have with the man Catherine refuses to acknowledge as his father.”
“Still battling the seemingly never-ending problem of drugs in the valley and those who supply them, Catherine is on the cusp of retirement.”
The series has been off the air since 2016, but fans have been yearning for more ever since it went off the air.
The second season attracted an average audience of 9.3 million in the UK.
The first two seasons each won the BAFTA Television awards for both Drama Series and Writing: Drama for Sally Wainwright, with Sarah Lancashire winning the BAFTA Television award for Leading Actress for the second season
Happy Valley season 3 is a Lookout Point production for the BBC, co-produced with AMC Networks. Happy Valley is written and created by Sally Wainwright.
Happy Valley Season 3 is directed by Patrick Harkins and Sally Wainwright, and Fergus O’Brien, with Jessica Taylor as producer.
Executive producers are Sally Wainwright and Sarah Lancashire, with Faith Penhale and Will Johnston for Lookout Point, and Ben Irving and Rebecca Ferguson for the BBC.
BBC Studios, who wholly own Lookout Point, is distributing series three in addition to series one and two.
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Paul Dailly is the Associate Editor for TV Fanatic. Follow him on Twitter.