'Van Der Valk' Season 3 Changes Up The Cast

Van der Valk is looking to change things up. The show, which is a reboot of the 1970s/1990s series, stuck somewhat close to the original series in its cast of characters, starting with Commissaris Piet van der Valk (Marc Warren). Hoofd-commissaris Halsbeek was gender-flipped to Inspecteur Lucienne Hassell (Maimie McCoy), his boss, Hoofd-commissaris Samson, turned into Hoofdcommissaris Julia Dahlman (Emma Fielding), and his hapless sidekick, Inspecteur Johnny Kroon becoming fan-favorite Job Cloovers (Elliot Barnes-Worrell).

But with two seasons under its belt, Van der Vak has announced a shakeup in the Dahlman's Amsterdam task force. Marc Warren, of course, is going nowhere, staying on as the titular Van der Valk, alongside McCoy as Hassell, and Darrell D'Silva will continue as drunken pathologist Hendrik Davie. But it looks like Barnes-Worrell is out, as is Luke Allen-Gale as himbo Sergeant Brad de Vries. Instead, the show has announced two new characters taking point.

The new faces joining the squad are actors Django Chan-Reeves and Azan Ahmed. Chan-Reeves is a relative newcomer with small roles in shows like Industry and The End of the F***ing World; she'll be playing Sergeant Li. Ahmed, who plays her fellow Sergeant, Suleman, is also relatively new to the TV business, having recently appeared in an episode of BBC America's Mood and the soap opera Hope Street. 

This is an interesting development as Van der Valk Season 3 was already finished filming in Amsterdam before ITV even announced it would return for another season. (Note McCoy’s Instagram of the script is dated April 5, 2022.) At the time of the show’s renewal announcement, executive producer Michele Buck said in a statement: “We are happy to announce some good news for Van der Valk fans, series three has already been filmed on location in Amsterdam and will return to your screens next year.”

For the record, "next year” is meant for ITV, not PBS, though they tend to air close enough together that chances are good Van der Valk Season 3 will be on PBS in the fall of 2023. However, this casting shake-up is something the production (and Masterpiece) have been sitting on for months since that filming happened in the first half of 2022. 

Van der Valk’s episode count for the new season has not been confirmed, but fans expect it to run three feature-length episodes once again. As noted above, Van der Valk Season 3 is expected to air in the U.k. on ITV in 2023, and hopefully will also come to PBS in 2023 as well, around the same time as it usually does, in early fall.