'Grantchester' Season 9 Sets Premiere Date for June

Since the beginning of Grantchester Season 8, when the production announced the planned departure of lead Tom Brittney, fans have been anxiously awaiting the arrival of Season 9, partly to see his exit from the series as Reverend William Davenport, and to meet his replacement, the Rev. Alphy Kotteram, played by Rishi Nair. Most assumed at the time that Will would leave at the end of the season; however, it turned out the show decided to follow the model set by the exit of original lead James Norton and have the Davenports exit in the first couple of episodes of the next season, and use the middle of the season to ease fans into the changing of the vicars.

Long-time fans of the show will recall that Norton's exit at the top of Season 4 was done that way out of sheer necessity; the series had not planned for the actor to leave, and it was only his refusal to resign that caused the show to reverse course after Season 3 broke up him and his fan favorite love interest to force him to stay in Grantchester. Having Brittney leave in the same manner it retroactively makes that exit the norm for the series. More importantly, it makes the debut of Season 9 a must-watch for viewers.

With the first trailer for the series now out and a release date set for June 2024, fans won't have much longer to wait. Check out our first look at Will Davenport's last days of crime-solving in Grantchester and Alphy Kotterdam's rather awkward arrival as Geordie has to train up a new vicar as his buddy in investigations.