'Hope Street' Unveils 'Derry Girls' Star as New Lead As Season 4 Filming Commences

Since the beginning of Hope Street, the Northern Ireland set police procedural has been a revolving door of cast. Season 1 kicked off with the arrival of DC Leila Hussain (Amara Karan) to the small town of Port Devine. She'd been transferred as part of a protection program after she'd spent years working undercover to bring down a major crime boss in Nottingham, only to have her cover blown. Port Devine's lead inspector, Finn O'Hare (Ciarán McMenamin), knew the truth about her but refused to tell anyone for fear the town gossip would put her in danger, but it backfired. In the end, she left town before he could stop her, (he was left for dead in a car crash), breaking O'Hare's heart along with it and making way for DC Al Quinn (Stephen Hagan) to join the team in Season 2 while Finn's second in command, Marlene Pettigrew (Kerri Quinn), took over her boss' position while he went on leave.

Quinn also only lasted one season, leaving after being caught covering up for his daughter acting out, crashing cars, and robbing ATMs, with incidents that nearly left O'Hare a dead man again. Season 3 brought aboard Jo Lipton (Karen Hassan) and a new constable, Ryan Power (Finnian Garbutt). However, Season 3 does finally see McMenamin's exit (though for those who have not watched yet, I will not tell you how). All you need to know is there's a new lead inspector in town for Season 4, and it's... Mary Quinn from Derry Girls.

That's right, Tara Lynne O’Neill, who played Erin's mum for three seasons on the beloved Northern Irish comedy, is joining the Hope Street soap opera insanity. She'll play Police Inspector Eve Dunlop, "a character who left Port Devine many years ago and has now returned with her family to build bridges and to investigate a mysterious disappearance."