‘Endeavour’ boss promises ‘the return of familiar faces’ in final season

Fans of Endeavour found out last week that the show is coming to an end.

With production on new episodes currently underway in Oxford, England, ITV confirmed that the long-running crime drama‘s next season will be its last.

Starring Shaun Evans as the young Morse, Endeavour originally launched with a one-off TV movie in January 2012 to mark the 25th anniversary of Inspector Morse’s television debut.

Endeavour has gone on to air another 32 mysteries over the past decade.

The show’s final three feature-length episodes will bring the show’s total to 36 films, overtaking the 33 episodes of Inspector Morse made between 1987 and 2000.

Last week’s official announcement revealed that “ITV’s drama commissioning team respectfully accepts this creative decision and would like to extend heartfelt thanks to everyone associated with Endeavour who have made the drama such a well loved part of the UK’s drama landscape.”

It’s expected that Season 9 will be set in 1972, leaving a fifteen year time jump before the character reappears in Inspector Morse‘s first episode in 1987.

While we don’t yet know how the series will conclude this era of Morse’s life, executive producer Damien Timmer has hinted that the show’s writer Russell Lewis “has many surprises up his sleeve for the final three films.”

Timmer commented: “Endeavour has been a real labour of love for all of us, and we salute Russell Lewis for his extraordinary achievement in chronicling Endeavour Morse’s coming of age across 72 hours of TV.”

He added: “Russell always knew where he wanted the series to end, and that Remorseful Day is nearly upon us! We’d like to thank Shaun and Roger and all the other members of the Endeavour family on and off screen, and to the show’s fans both in the UK and abroad.”

Timmer also teased “the return of some familiar faces and new challenges for Endeavour and Thursday to face before the final goodbye!”

Season 9 will premiere in 2023 in the UK on ITV and in the US on PBS.

In the meantime, we’ve got this emotional teaser to help prepare us:

Endeavour will be back in the US this summer with its eighth season, which debuted in the UK last year.

It’ll air as part of PBS’s upcoming Masterpiece Mystery season, which also includes brand new episodes of Miss Scarlet and the Duke and Grantchester.

Endeavour is available to watch on Amazon Prime Video.