It’s been a long wait, but Happy Valley’s third and final season finally premieres Monday, May 22, on Acorn TV, AMC+, and BBC America.
As has been teased in the teasers and trailers, we’re in for another edge-of-the-seat thriller from start to finish.
TV Fanatic scored an exclusive first look at Happy Valley Season 3 Episode 1, and it’s a great indicator of what’s to come.
The clip features Tommy Lee Royce (James Norton) being quizzed about another crime, and he’s somehow scarier than before.
The role has been a change of pace for Norton, and he plays the darkest shades of Royce’s personality to perfection.
Undoubtedly, he’ll cause many problems for Sft Catherine Cawood throughout the last-ever episodes of this hit series that has been off the air since 2016.
Yes, after a seven-year hiatus, we’re being treated to a compelling new mystery, filled with shocking twists and turns.
Check out the clip below and scroll down for more.
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.
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.”
Paul Dailly is the Associate Editor for TV Fanatic. Follow him on Twitter.