'Miss Scarlet' Without the Duke Abandons the Fundamental Premise of the Show
As most Miss Scarlet and the Duke fans have likely heard by now, significant changes are in store for Season 5 — just not in the way most of us probably expected. The series' fourth season was its most dramatic yet, as the slow burn will they/won't they tension between the series firmly tipped into outright romantic territory, with William finally admitting he was in love with Eliza, kissing her, and departing for America on a year-long work assignment. True, the season ended with our leads physically further apart than they'd ever been. Still, viewers everywhere were thrilled: After literally years of dancing around the rarely mentioned but blatantly obvious feelings between them, this season finally pushed their relationship forward. We got a whole flashback episode dedicated to how they first met! There was a kiss! William said the L-word! The genuine forward relationship progress that so many fans had been waiting for was finally happening!
But when the Season 5 renewal announcement finally arrived, it came with an important (and devastating) caveat: Stuart Martin, the actor who plays William Wellington, would not return to the show. Instead, the mystery series would be changing its name to Miss Scarlet, and the press release included a statement from creator Rachael New promising that, despite the Duke's absence, "there is so much in store for Eliza – new crimes, new friends, new foes and new romance."
I probably speak for many longtime Miss Scarlet fans when I say that everything about this news felt like a punch in the gut and, quite frankly, a betrayal of everything we were promised when we originally signed on to watch this show. Martin's departure is upsetting for so many reasons, but a big one is that it feels like a bait and switch. We're losing a central character whose emotional journey we were invested in and a vital piece of the primary reason we were told to watch Miss Scarlet & The Duke in the first place. Whether you want William and Eliza together romantically or not, the show was always predicated on and grounded in their relationship, and to pretend otherwise is to deny the original premise behind its very existence.
