'Happy Valley' To Return For A Third & Final Season In 2022

When Happy Valley debuted in 2014, the cop drama was the third hit series from the mind of Sally Wainwright, who was also known for her mystery series Scott & Bailey and her family drama Last Tango in Halifax. The series starred Sarah Lancashire as the iconic Sergeant Catherine Cawood, another in a long line of TV cops whose struggle with families that have been destroyed by tragedy. But after two seasons, the BAFTA award-winning series went dark for several years. Now the BBC has announced a third and final installment is coming to TV next year.

Set in Calder Valley, West Yorkshire, Lancashire's Cawood started in Season 1 as a PC, who struggled to come to terms with her daughter Becky's suicide eight years ago after being raped by Tommy Lee Royce, played by Grantchester's James Norton. Cawood and her sister, Clare, played by Downton Abbey's Siobhan Finneran, had banded together to raise Becky's young son, Ryan (Rhys Connah), Tommy Lee's child. Season 1 focused on Royce's release from prison and Cawood's obsession with putting him back inside. Season 2 flipped the tables, beginning with the death of Royce's mother and attention falling on Cawood as the main suspect, forcing her to prove her innocence.

Lancashire will reprise her role as Sgt Catherine Cawood, with both Finneran and Norton reprising their respective roles as Clare and Royce. No word if Connah will return as the now-teenage Ryan or be recast. (The BBC has hinted at other returning cast members, but said those will be announced "in due course.")