Return to Paradise viewers have been left thrilled at a trailer for the upcoming new series. The Death in Paradise spin-off, which followed the success of Kris Marshall’s return as Humphrey Goodman in Beyond Paradise, first started airing in 2024. It sees Home and Away actress Anna Samson play the first Death in Paradise female lead, as DI Mackenzie Clarke, an Australian ex-pat who makes a name for herself in London’s Met Police before returning to her home, Dolphin Cove.
Third season premiere
The crime comedy, which also stars Lloyd Griffith and Tai Hara, is now set to premiere its third season on ABC, with viewers left delighted at a first-look trailer. In it, DI Mackenzie is welcomed back to Dolphin Cove, before being reunited with her mum and discovering a new investigator on her team. Her life is further complicated when her former fiancé returns, with a possible romance back on the cards.
“She won’t stop, until she finds the truth,” the trailer ends. Viewers rushed to share their excitement, as one wrote: “So excited for this!!” “I LOVE this show… I LOVE IT WHY AM I YELLING,” another declared.
Fan reactions
“Can’t wait, so excited,” a third echoed. Someone else said: “Omg yesssss!!! So excited for the new season Looks so amazing, I just know I’m going to absolutely love it!” Yet another wrote: “Omg yesss we are so bacckkkk.” “Omg omg omg!!! Woohoo!” another said. Someone else added: “Yay finally I’ve been hoping for another series.”
Actress Anna previously spoke about taking on the role, and making history as Death in Paradise’s first female lead. She told Metro, ahead of the first series airing: “[I feel] different now to when it first started, I can’t lie. When I first heard about my casting, it was nerve wracking and surreal taking the mantle from these wonderful, characterful detectives, but also these beloved, charismatic, male British actors. That’s enough to make you a little crazy if you’re not careful.”
International adaptation
She went on: “I think back to when I got the phone call from my agent, there’s this blissful, wonderful 24 hours where you’re walking on sunshine a little bit, and then you go, ‘Oh, s**t, I actually have to do it,’ but I can’t replicate anything to what those previous actors did. I bring me to the show, and that’s not something I can help. And when you’re shooting it, when you’re on set, when you’re working, you can’t think about the franchise, or being the first female detective, or how people might perceive that. You just have to play the scenes and the truth of the scenes and along with the fear and the responsibility, there was, and there is, a huge amount of pride, and I was, and am, pleased as punch.”
This comes after it was revealed that Death in Paradise would be getting its first international adaptation, with a mixture of crime solving and paradise location, as it is transported to the island of Brac, Croatia, set in a fictional island community. The Croatian adaptation, which has been titled Ubojstvo u raju, will be produced by a different production company than the BBC series. The series will follow ‘out of place’ detective Petar and a local police team including Marina, whose understanding of the island will challenge his routine of doing things, Variety reported.
Producers Bruno Mustic and Ivan Lovrecek told Variety that they were “very excited” to bring the show to Croatia. They shared in a statement: “The series is one of the BBC’s most successful programs, and with Ubojstvo u raju we will bring that same blend of murder mystery, humor, warmth and strong sense of place to Croatia. We want to adapt the series to Croatian culture, creating an authentically Croatian world with characters and cases rooted in Adriatic Island life.” Return to Paradise is available to watch on BBC iPlayer.
