Unforgotten creator Chris Lang has teased Nicola Walker's replacement in the hit crime series, revealing DCI Cassie Stewart's role as DI Sunny Khan's sidekick will be taken over by another female character.
Speaking to RadioTimes.com, the ITV show's writer revealed that he had penned an unnamed character to join DI Sunny Khan (Sanjeev Bhaskar) on his missions - and it's gonna be another woman.
Girl power!
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"I certainly have begun conceiving the character, yeah," he said. "It's an evolutionary process when you write both the series and the characters and they evolve over the course of the writing process, six months or so.
"So I have a pretty good idea who she was and who she is and what her story is.
"And yes, it's a woman. But it will keep evolving until the day we deliver it because you still rewrite in the [series] edit."
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Lang went on to confirm that the character would be "new" and wouldn't be someone who is already on the team.
It comes after season 4 ended with Cassie's death, following a terrible car crash.
Chris confirmed that he had discussed Nicola's exit with her in season 3, adding that she agreed her storyline should be drawn to a close in season 4.
He added that viewers shouldn't expect any future appearances from Nicola in the new series, in flashback form or by any other means.
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He added that he was keen to be "bold" and shut that chapter once and for all.
Seeing as Lang is still conceptualising the series, we think there will be a bit of a wait until we can see our new protagonist on screen, or even find out who will play her.
Looking at how long it has taken to write previous series' we'd hazard a guess the show could be back late next year - say, around September-October 2022.
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We'll of course update you as soon as we have any official deets.
Featured Image Credit: ITVTopics: TV News, TV Entertainment