'Death in Paradise's Trailer Suggests the New Detective May Like It Here

Death in Paradise starts a new era in 2025 with the casting of the show's fifth lead detective in under fifteen years. After a few years each of various unmarried middle-class white men whose privileged lives lead them to be cranky about being assigned to one of the most beautiful places on earth — Ben Miller (DI Richard Poole), Kris Marshall (DI Humphrey Goodman), Ardal O'Hanlon (DI Jack Mooney), Ralf Little (DI Neville Parker) — Death in Paradise decided to try something new and cast Don Gilet (Sherwood) as Detective Inspector Mervin Wilson, the show's first British Black lead, who officially beings his first season in St. Marie in the new trailer.

This first look at Season 14 reveals the production has not altered anything else about the series. The cases of the week still turn up bodies in messy places, cliched lines about things being fishy and other bad puns will be uttered, and good-natured teasing among those who find themselves living out on the tiny island just north of South America will give the show a family atmosphere.

However, the show's entire feel is already obviously different, not just because DS Naomi Thomas (Shantol Jackson) jumps almost a foot when she realizes her new boss isn't white. Death in Paradise has always been, in many respects, a show about colonialism (though it would probably never define itself that way), and much of the unspoken tension, whenever a new lead arrived, stems from the obvious discomfort within the new surroundings. However, Gilet's effortless calm as Wilson feels far more settled from the jump, and while he's still from out of town, I don't think it's a secret that our newest detective is gonna like it here.