The end of the second series of the British crime drama The Fall could have easily served as a series finale. But if you enjoy watching an unamused Gillian Anderson tear into misogynistic men as much as I do, you're very much in luck. Anderson's no-nonsense detective character Stella Gibson is back in The Fall Season 3, out on Netflix Oct. 29. And though Paul Spector's survival was in question in that finale, Jamie Dornan is still on board as co-lead and continues to play the serial killer Stella has been tracking since the show began. The Fall Season 3 is adding some new characters to the mix. Aisling Bea plays Nurse Kiera Sheridan on The Fall , another woman who is pulled into the dangerous orbit of Spector.
The reason why I thought that Season 2 might have been the end for The Fall is because it looked very much like it could have been the end of Paul Spector. When he led the police out into the woods to find his victim Rose Stagg — barely alive — he and Detective Tom Anderson were shot by Jimmy Tyler, one of Spector's former therapy patients. Stella held him while he bled out on the ground; if he were to die there, he'd be spared a trial, spared facing his victims and their families — it didn't seem fair to Stella. The season wrapped there, but a renewal and an announcement that Dornan would be reprising his role confirmed that Spector wouldn't die in those woods. He's taken to a hospital instead, where he meets Kiera Sheridan.
Kiera is an Intensive Care Nurse at Belfast General Hospital. (The Fall is a British production, but is shot and set in Ireland.) She and Dr. O'Donnell (Richard Coyle) are among the hospital staff who treat Spector directly. The dark-haired woman shares some physical traits with the women who Spector targets, and they're brought together by a literal life-or-death situation. Women who should be repulsed by Spector's cold misogyny and violent streak have found themselves drawn to him instead. Look at Katie Benedetto, the teenage babysitter who nurses an obsessive crush on her charges' dad. Could Nurse Sheridan be at risk of falling under Spector's influence? And if she is, would she go so far as to risk her job and her own freedom to help him?
The role of Kiera Sheridan is a dramatic departure for actress and stand-up comedian Aisling Bea. Bea is an award-winning comic and appears regularly on UK comedy panel shows like A League Of Their Own and Never Mind The Buzzcocks. She has a lengthy acting resume as well, but mostly in sitcoms. The Fall has its witty moments (mostly at a man's expense), but the show is overwhelmingly serious for the most part. And if Bea's character becomes attached to Paul Spector, the nurse could be playing with fire.
According to IMDB, Nurse Sheridan will appear in four episodes this year. The entire third season of The Fall will drop on Netflix at the same time, so your binge can begin.
Image: Netflix
