EXCLUSIVE: Cameras are rolling on Vigil Season 3, the BBC drama starring Suranne Jones and Rose Leslie, and we’ve got a host of new names joining the show.
Shooting on the World Productions show has begun in Svalbard and Scotland, with fresh cast comprising Tornike Gogrichiani (Extraction 2, Drops of God), Steven Miller (Dept. Q, Shetland), Jeppe Beck Laursen (The Last, The Trip) Benjamin Wainwright (Maigret, Belgravia: The Next Chapter), Artur Zai Barrera (The Old Man, Lucky), Jordan Duvigneau (Mood, Stolen shorty), Kaisa Hammarlund (Hijack, Grace), Adam Fidusiewicz (FBI International, A Gentleman in Moscow) and Naomi Yang (Under Salt Marsh, Wolfe).
Eric Godon (In Bruges, Anna), Conor Berry (Karen Pirie, Schemers), Amy Manson (Rebus, Bodies), Jason Tobin (A Thousand Blows, The Balled of a Small Player), Steven Cree (All of You, Heads of State), Killian Coyle (Shetland, Endeavour) Derek Riddell (Industry, Happy Valley), Alma Prelec (Secret Service, Fifteen Love) Dawn Sievewright (Undertow, Shetland) and Shereen Cutkelvin (Summerwater, Crime) have also been cast.
They all join Jones, who plays DCI Amy Silva, and Leslie, who portrays DI Kirsten Longacre. The detectives’ new case takes them to a remote Arctic research station, where a member of a covert British special forces mission has been shot dead. They need to catch the killer, diffuse the potential of an international confrontation over energy and resources, and cut their careers and relationship.
Suranne Jones and Rose Leslie on set of ‘Vigil’ Season 3
Mark Mainz
Returning to the cast are Gary Lewis (Franklin, A Thousand Blows), who reprises his role as Detective Superintendent Robertson; Dominic Mafham (Little Disasters, Killing Eve), who is back as Sir Ian Downing; and Orla Russell (Deadwater Fell, Outlander) back as Poppy, Amy and Kirsten’s daughter.
Vigil creator Tom Edge is again writing the show, with additional writers for the season being Tom Mair and Eve Hedderwick Turner. Marcus Wilson is the producer and George Aza-Selinger is associate producer. Executive producers are Jake Lushington for World Productions, Gaynor Holmes and Stephanie Fyfe for the BBC, and Edge. Gareth Bryn (Karen Pirie, The Gathering) and Faye Gilbert (The Bay, The Tower) are directing. World is producing in association with its owner, ITV Studios, which has international distribution rights.
“I’m grateful to the BBC and World Productions for backing the ambition of a story that takes Vigil to the Arctic,” said Edge. “This season grapples with the issues that will define tomorrow’s world: Melting ice caps, conflict over resources, energy wars and lives put at risk in pursuit of peace and profits.”
World’s Lushington added: “We are thrilled to be kicking off filming series three of Vigil with Suranne and Rose in the epic arctic landscapes of Svalbard and welcome our most multinational cast to date, as well as featuring new and established Scottish talent.”
Vigil Season 1, in which Jones’ Silva was enlisted to solve a murder on a navy submarine in Scottish waters, was BAFTA-nominated and won the International Emmy for Best Drama Series in 2021. Season 2, from 2023, focused on a deadly drone attack, launched to nearly nine million viewers and was in the BBC’s best-three most watched dramas of the year.
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