'Murdoch Mysteries' Celebrates New Main Cast Member for Season 18

Happy Murdoch Mysteries Day for all who celebrate. The show's current season (Season 18) debuted back in October 2024 on the CBC in Canada and the U.S. on the little-watched cable channel Ovation here in the states (which has a free streamer viewers could find if they were so inclined where all episodes have been available week by week). However, for those who are complete cord-cutters and reliant on their subscription streaming services, it's only now that Murdoch Mysteries' new season's premiere is available.

For those tuning into that premiere, the absence of long-time cast member Hélène Joy as Dr. Julia Ogden won't come as a surprise, as she left on the long journey across the ocean to the U.K. at the end of Season 17. (Don't worry; Joy will be making guest appearances and is confirmed to be a part of the show's 300th episode this season.) However, the discovery that the show has grabbed the opportunity to cast its first full-time main cast member may come as a surprise.

The new character is not a doctor who has come to fill Ogden's sensible shoes; he's Inspector Albert Choi, the first central Asian character to be part of the series. Choi is played by Paul Hyung-Sun Lee, an actor Americans will probably recognize from another CBC series that became a hit in America on secondary streaming, Kim's Convenience, where he played Mr. Sang-il Kim. This is his first crime of the week series and a rare period piece for the actor, who is delighted by his new role. Check out the clip:

Paul Hyung-Sun Lee is not the first non-white character on the show; however, up until now, those characters have been in supporting roles, such as Shanice Banton, who has been in a “recurring” role with the series since Season 11 as Chief Coroner Violet Hart. By finally casting a non-white main character, not only is Murdoch Mysteries correcting one of its longest-running oversights, it finally allows the series to acknowledge its blind spots and fix a few of them, as Choi will “bring a whole new perspective to Station House #4.” 

Meanwhile, Yannick Bisson returns as the show’s titular detective, William Murdoch; Thomas Craig is back as Inspector Thomas Brackenreid; and Jonny Harris as Constable George Crabtree, which does mean the show has an -all-male lead cast. (Joy is listed for the season as a “Guest Star.") Recurring characters slated to appear in Season 18 include Banton, Daniel Maslany as Detective Watts, Lachlan Murdoch as Constable Henry Higgens, Arwen Humphreys as Margaret Brackenreid, and Clare McConnell as Crown Attorney Effie Newsome-Crabtree.

Murdoch Mysteries Season 18 premieres on Acorn TV beginning Monday, February 10, 2025, and will stream weekly without breaks through the end of July. Meanwhile, Season 18, Episode 13, will debut on the CBC and Ovation on the series’ Acorn premiere day.