Paul McGann Returns in 'Annika' Season 2's First Look Photos

The first season of Annika wasn't the most sparkling of PBS' fall 2022 lineup, but it was a solid series, the kind of workhorse procedural that can run for years without losing the audience's interest. The combination of Nicola Walker (Unforgotten) as the titular Annika Strandhed, Jamie Sives (Guilt) as her second-in-command Michael McAndrews butting heads worked well, as did the surprise addition of Paul McGann (Luther) as her love interest, Dr. Jake Strathearn, made for a show better than the sum of its parts. Add in a decent twist in the Season 1 finale that miraculously hadn't been telegraphed ahead, and it was no wonder the show was renewed months before it aired on linear.

Unfortunately, marketing might not have gotten the message that the lack of telegraphing its big twist was part of why the show worked. Though Annika and Michael had some past run-ins, and he was super crabby, she'd been enticed back to Glasgow to run the Marine Homicide Unit instead of him getting promoted; Walker kept him enough at arm's length that it wasn't obvious they'd dated as teens, let alone that he was the father of her daughter Morgan, played by Silvie Furneaux (Limbo) who she'd never told about the child.

The chances of those two getting together are pretty remote -- a blow-up is far more likely, should the truth ever will out. And yet, Annika Season 2 insists on releasing two photos of Walker for Season 2's first look, one with McGann's Dr. Jake and the other with Michael, as if she were somehow torn between them. We know she'd be far more likely to ramble on about how this is all very Jane Austen before solving the next case.

Here is a summary of what fans can expect for Annika Season 2, courtesy of executive producer Arabella Page Croft of producing partner Black Camel Pictures.

The new series will see Annika and her brilliant MHU uncover bodies in Edinburgh, Glasgow, and as far as the Hebridean island of Jura, keeping in high literary company with the likes of Robert Louis Stevenson, George Orwell and Walter Scott to help solve the cases. 

Walker, Sives, McGann, and Furneaux will once again be joined by Katie Leung (Roadkill) as DC Blair Ferguson, Ukweli Roach (Blindspot) as DS Tyrone Clarke, and Katie Dickie (Game of Thrones) as their MHU over boss, DCI Diane Oban. Jade Chan (The Demon Headmaster) will probably also return as Morgan’s love interest, Erin Ferguson, as will Andy Clark (Shetland), as Michael’s older brother Ady. The series will also introduce Annika’s father/Morgan’s granddad, Magnus, played by Sven Henriksen (Welcome to Uttmark). Also, the team will pick up a new member, with Varada Sethu (Andor) as DC Harper Weston.

Nick Walker (no relation to the show’s star), who created the series for radio and adapted it for TV, will return to pen all six episodes. Director Philip John (Downton Abbey), who helmed three of Season 1’s episodes, is confirmed to return as part of the Season 2 team.

No release date has been set for Annika Season 2. However, with principle photography completed in October 2022, it's a good bet the series will debut on PBS Passport in the spring again before arriving on Alibi in the U.K. later in the year.