Will there be a season 2 of The Suspect?

For more details, you can read our recap of The Suspect ending, where we delve into the explosive climax and some unanswered questions.

But have we seen the last of Joe now that his name's been cleared, or could The Suspect be another returning hit for its lead actor Turner? Here's everything we know so far about a potential continuation.

• Aidan Turner on The Suspect and whether to expect any more Poldark
• The Suspect director reveals how they filmed tense opening scene
• Where is The Suspect filmed? Location guide to ITV drama
• Meet the cast of The Suspect

Will there be a season 2 of The Suspect?

ITV has yet to announce if it will produce another season charting Joe's next moves.

However, if the broadcaster is game, there's plenty of source material to work from – following the publication of The Suspect in 2004, author Michael Robotham has written eight further Joe O'Loughlin books, which means there's theoretically scope for up to nine seasons total.

As ever, it'll all come down to whether ITV feels The Suspect has performed well enough to justify re-teaming with producers World Productions for a sequel.

When would The Suspect season 2 air?

Given a second season is yet to be green-lit, the earliest we might expect filming to begin would be 2023, with transmission in all likelihood following sometime in 2024.

The Suspect season 2 cast: Who could return?

The cast of The Suspect's five-episode run was as follows:

• Aidan Turner as Joe O'Loughlin
• Shaun Parkes as DI Ruiz
• Anjli Mohindra as DS Devi
• Sian Clifford as Rachel Fenwick
• Camilla Beeput as Julianne
• Uma Warner as Charlie
• Adam James as Gerald 'Jack' Owens
• Bobby Schofield as Bobby Moran
• Tom McKay as DJ
• Tara Lee as Catherine McCain
• Bronagh Waugh as Cara
• Angela Griffin as Melinda
• Haydn Gwynne as Ann
• Dermot Crowley as Joseph O'Loughlin Sr.

Of the above, Aidan Turner is obviously a dead cert to return as Joe if another season is commissioned, while it's a safe bet that Camilla Beeput and Uma Warner would also return as Joe's wife Julianne and daughter Charlie.

DI Ruiz is also a recurring character who appears in the original novels, so you can expect Shaun Parkes to be back – and though DS Devi doesn't appear in the books and was invented for the TV adaptation of The Suspect, if Ruiz is back, it's possible that Anjli Mohindra could also reappear.

Joe's friend Rachel Fenwick (Sian Clifford), his step-mother Ann (Haydn Gwynne), and father Joseph O'Loughlin Sr. (Dermot Crowley) can also be considered potential returnees.

More specifically tied to the first season's story and so less likely to resurface are Bobby Moran/Morgan (Bobby Schofield) and Joe's former colleague Melinda (Angela Griffin). The same could be said of Gerald 'Jack' Owens (Adam James), but given his longstanding friendship with Joe, it's not out of the realms of possibility that he might come back.

Three characters we can rule out for certain from a second season are murderous plumber DJ (Tom McKay) and his victims Catherine McCain (Tara Lee) and Cara (Bronagh Waugh), all of whom perished across The Suspect's five episodes.

What will happen in The Suspect season 2?

The remaining eight books in the Joe O'Loughlin series left to adapt are as follows:

• Lost (2005)
• Shatter (2008)
• Bleed for Me (2010)
• The Wreckage (2011)
• Say You're Sorry (2012)
• Watching You (2013)
• Close Your Eyes (2015)
• The Other Wife (2018)

If the next season is based on 2005's Lost, then viewers can expect to see Joe once again caught up in a murder investigation, though this time it's DI Ruiz at the eye of the storm...

Flipping the events of The Suspect, the book sees Ruiz found clinging to a buoy in the River Thames – he's covered in his own blood, as well as that of two other people, and has a photo of missing child Mickey Carlyle in his pocket. He also has absolutely no memory of how he came to be in this situation.

Ruiz reaches out to Joe to help him unearth his memory and clear his name – oh, the irony!

Given that the title 'Lost' has associations with a different TV series, it's possible the show could keep the title 'The Suspect' for its second season, since that moniker actually fits rather neatly with this new story too. Time will tell if we'll get to see it dramatised...

Check out more of our Drama coverage or visit our TV Guide to see what's on tonight.

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