‘Magpie Murders’ follow-up reveals new cast in Season 2 pics
Some brand new images from Moonflower Murders have been released!
The upcoming crime drama is a sequel to last year’s hit series Magpie Murders.
Adapted by Anthony Horowitz from his popular 2016 novel, the show launched in the UK on BritBox in early 2022,
US viewers then loved Magpie Murders when it debuted on PBS last October, and the series found even more British fans when it aired on BBC One this spring.
Despite some doubts about the show’s future, it was announced in February that the BBC and PBS had renewed Magpie Murders for more episodes.
The new season will be an adaptation of Moonflower Murders, Anthony Horowitz’s 2020 follow-up to his Magpie Murders novel.
Reprising their roles from Magpie Murders are Lesley Manville (The Crown, World on Fire) as book editor turned sleuth Susan Ryeland and Timothy McMullan (Patrick Melrose) as famous literary detective Atticus Pünd.
Here’s a first look at the pair reunited in Moonflower Murders:
“I had an incredible time returning to the role of the smart and feisty Susan Ryeland,” commented Manville.
“Anthony Horowitz has written another ingenious adaptation and I’m thrilled to be a part of it,” she added.
Other returning cast members will include Alexandros Logothetis (The Island) as Andreas, Daniel Mays (Line of Duty) as Locke/Chubb, Claire Rushbrook (Sherwood) as Kate, Conleth Hill (Game of Thrones) as Alan Conway, Matthew Beard (Vienna Blood) as James, and Sanjeev Kohli (River City) as Sajid Khan.
They’ll be joined by some brand new faces, with Mark Gatiss (Sherlock) playing the parts of Parris and Berlin.
Also appearing in the new season are Rosalie Craig (The Queen’s Gambit) as Lisa/Melissa, Pippa Bennett-Warner (Gangs of London) as Madeline, and Adrian Rawlins (Living) as Lawrence/Lance.
The cast have been busy shooting Moonflower Murders on location in Dublin and Crete, ahead of its premiere on the BBC and PBS in 2024.
“I’ve been watching the filming of Moonflower Murders with joy,” revealed writer Anthony Horowitz.
The Foyle’s War creator promises “a whole new box of tricks to present as literary editor Susan Ryeland untangles another book within a book and another series of unfathomable murders.”
The official synopsis tells us a bit more about what to expect…
“Susan has left publishing and is living in Crete with her long-time boyfriend, Andreas. But her idyll is disturbed by the shadow of a murder committed at a British country hotel eight years ago.
“Alan Conway visited the hotel and wrote a novel based on what happened there. Cecily Treherne, the young woman who helps run the hotel, read the book and believed the wrong man had been arrested. Now she has disappeared.
“Can Susan uncover the secret hidden in the book and find Cecily before it is too late?”
“Moonflower Murders is a gloriously entertaining, inventive and original ‘mystery within a mystery within a disappearance’ – it is simply irresistible,” says Sue Deeks, Head of Programme Acquisition for the BBC.
We loved Magpie Murders, so we’re really looking forward to watching this!
If you’ve not yet seen the first season, all six episodes are currently streaming on BBC iPlayer in the UK.
Anthony Horowitz’s Moonflower Murders novel is available on Amazon.