‘Endeavour’ star Shaun Evans reveals if Season 8 is still happening

Shaun Evans has explained how the coronavirus pandemic has affected the future of Endeavour.

The star returned to our screens as DS Endeavour Morse earlier this year in the UK with a seventh season of ITV’s crime drama series.

An eighth season of Endeavour had already been confirmed for 2021, although creator Russell Lewis has previously hinted that we’re “getting very near the end” of the show.

Filming on the new season would have begun this summer, but production was halted due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Fortunately, Shaun Evans has now revealed that Season 8 is still going ahead – just not for a while…

The 40-year-old English actor told PBS recently: “Well, the world’s such a strange place at the moment. There is a plan for there to be a Season Eight—we should have been shooting that now, really. But already it’s been pushed back until next year, which, to be honest, I think is a blessing.”

Evans explained: “First and foremost, we’re very lucky to have the opportunity to return and do any more, especially at this late in the game… so the fact that it has been pushed until next year only gives us more time to perfect [it], which can only be a good thing.”

He added: “But yes, in short, there will—fingers crossed, God willing, all being well—be a Season Eight.”

Shaun Evans has played DS Endeavour Morse since 2012, appearing in 30 episodes so far.

He’s also directed a number of episodes, something he hopes to repeat in the next season.

Evans revealed: “For me, it’s such an immersive experience, the whole thing, from start to finish, because I produce it and also direct it, and obviously, I’m in virtually every scene. The whole thing is immersive, and even when we’re not shooting, I’m cutting together the episode that I’ve directed, or we’re talking about story for the next one. And that’s what I love, really.

“I’m looking forward to seeing the people, the family that we’ve created that’s both in front of and behind the camera, and being able to really pick apart—with people who are often times much brighter than I—what the best way is to tell these stories in the most satisfying way.

“Because when the six or seven months that the job takes, is done and I emerge back into the world, I always feel that I’ve really learned something from experience.

“Sometimes you learn things from your own shortcomings, or having made [mistakes], and that’s as incredible. So every facet of it is so involved that I really look forward to it, to just jumping right in. And then obviously having fun while you’re acting on set. That’s joyous.”

Season 8 is expected to air on ITV in the UK and on PBS in the US towards the end of 2021.

In the meantime, Endeavour writer Russell Lewis is adapting Peter James’ award-winning Roy Grace novels for television.

Starring John Simm (Life on Mars), Grace is currently filming in Brighton, England.

The first six seasons of Endeavour are available to watch on Amazon Prime and if you’re not already a member you can sign up for a free 30-day trial here!