'Unforgotten' Season 5 Announces New Lead Sinéad Keenan

Unforgotten shocked viewers at the end of Season 4 by killing off lead DCI Cassie Stuart, played by actor Nicola Walker. The death came as a shock for multiple reasons, not the least of which was both the character and the actor had become synonymous with the series. That Cassie was killed off in a senseless car crash that had nothing to do with the case at hand and that her exit had been planned for two seasons only added to fans' grief at losing the character. But life goes on, and so does the show. But instead of promoting Sanjeev Bhaskar's Sunny Khan to DCI and Carolina Main's Fran Lingle to his main sidekick, the show is recasting the lead role entirely, with Sinéad Keenan taking over the division as DCI Jessica 'Jessie' James.

The Irish actress' name may not be familiar to PBS viewers. However, BBC America fans will recognize Sinéad Keenan from the U.K. version of Being Human as werewolf Nina Pickering, part of the main cast for the first three seasons. She also turned up in Agatha Christie's Poirot, Silent Witness, and David Tennant's final episodes of Doctor Who, "The End of Time Parts 1 and 2" as Addams. Her most recent hit series appearance was as DI Paula Cassidy in Showtrial, which heads to this side of the pond on AMC+ later this year.

Showrunner Chris Lang revealed Keenan's casting on Twitter. He announced her arrival as the new lead and revealed that production for the new season had just gotten underway. The picture he included showed the first table read, though, notably, he did not reveal the four guest cast suspects for Season 5, nor did the press release give out any details for this year's cold case.