Everything to Remember Ahead of 'Van der Valk' Season 3

Van der Valk debuted in the 1970s, starring Barry Foster (Frenzy) as Commissaris Simon "Piet" van der Valk. The series, which first aired in 1972, was a massive hit in the U.K. and was brought back in 1977, featuring a completely different cast with the sole exception of Foster in the title role. However, the series was considered to be too contemporary for Masterpiece Theater at the time and did not reach American shores until its 1990s era revival (again with a whole new cast, save Foster), where it ran first on nascent cable channel A&E before being picked up for the second run by local PBS stations.

How times have changed! Masterpiece jumped on board the Van der Valk reboot in 2019 as co-producer, with the new series kicking off the Fall 2020 season. Lockdowns delayed Season 2's arrival until 2022, but Season 3 was already filming before the second season was done airing in the states. However, it's been a year since Season 2 and three since the show's premiere, so here's everything you need to remember about the series ahead of its Season 3 debut.

For those who remember the 1990s era series (or have watched the 1970s episodes on streaming), the new series reimagined the characters. Piet Van der Valk (Marc Warren) is no longer a happily married man with a lovely house and a comfortable life. He is single and living in a houseboat. His wife, Arlette, is dead in this version, drowned in a car after they were run off the road by Theunis Visser, Van der Valk's old boss and mentor, who he discovered was corrupt and brought to justice. His assistant, Johnny Kroon, is now Job Cloovers (Elliot Barnes-Worrell), still a naive innocent, but one with a heart of gold, a knack for creative use of found objects against antagonists, and a family mystery.