'Endeavour' Season 4 Is Bringing More Mysteries

The prequel to Inspector Morse, British detective series Endeavour has been a wonderful import that mixes classic Agatha Christie-style mysteries with the modern revisionism of Sherlock. As the Season 3 finale approaches here in the U.S., fans may be wondering if Endeavour will return for Season 4, and I have good news. The series was renewed by ITV back in February and according to the network's press release, it should have begun filming back in spring. However, there is also bad news: That's for the UK audience, who should be getting the series in January, while the U.S. premiere is usually delayed until summer on PBS.

But, if Season 4 is currently bring written and filmed, that means that there should be clues and hints out there about what's coming next for Endeavour Morse in the fourth season of the show, particularly from interviews about how Season 3 will lead into the next installment of the series. Endeavour's third season ended with the detective's biggest case yet, and when the fourth premieres in the UK in the winter, it will be almost impossible to resist looking online for the answers to the new season's mysteries. But let these little hints help you hold on until the official Masterpiece premiere, which will likely be in the summer of 2017, though that has not been confirmed.

Endeavour star Shaun Evans doesn't have social media, so he's not posting cryptic selfies from the set. However, he did give several interviews back in January, when Season 3 first aired in the UK, that included some vague suggestions about future seasons of the series. To Express, Evans discussed Season 3 and Endeavour in general. He confirmed that the show shoots every year "from May to September," which would put the series right in the middle of its production cycle.

He also promised that so long as people love the series, the crew is prepared to make more episodes. "I can speak for the whole team that when we began this whole thing our intention was to make something really good. ... I would be reluctant to continue beyond the point where either the audience or we were not engaged in the series. So if they want more, and we’ve got more to give, never say never, and it could go on and on.”

As Endeavour Season 3 revealed, the possibly fatal shooting that DI Fred Thursday suffered was touch and go, but didn't wind up killing the beloved supporting character. And according to actor Roger Allam, the character's changes as a result of that experience will be permanent. Allam told the Radio Times, "I don't think it ever leaves you. ... It can be very depressing and you can try and resist it and ignore it for years, but it'll always come back." So Thursday's more erratic behavior should continue into Season 4.

Because the seasons are produced totally separately, there aren't too many hints about Endeavour Season 4 out yet, though from multiple interviews and reports from ITV, the British network that airs the series, it's clear that the fourth season is in progress right now, that the people behind it love it, and that a lot of the developments from Season 3 will continue over into the fourth installment of the detective series when it makes its debut.

Image: Mammoth Screen/MASTERPIECE/ITV Studios (2)