The Season 2 finale of Murder in a Small Town was, as promised, a doozy. The final episode, “Nightshade,” brought the season-long mystery of the cold cases investigated by Cassandra Lee (Kristin Kreuk) and Holly (Dakota Guppy) to a thrilling conclusion. Plus, there’s the matter of that engagement proposal that Karl Alberg (Rossif Sutherland) had in store for his girl.
MIST-ers can be sure that the creatives of the show are already looking ahead to what might be next in a third season. So what do we know about Murder in a Small Town Season 3 so far? Here’s a look.
Is Murder in a Small Town renewed for Season 3?
At this time, Fox has not yet renewed Murder in a Small Town for Season 3. However, there’s reason to hope for more. The ratings for Season 2 have been steady at an average of 2.2 million per episode, which is an 11% increase over Season 1, which averaged 1.97 million viewers and was renewed. The series has also received favorable reviews and remains one of the network’s few scripted dramas.
Who will star in Murder in a Small Town Season 3?
If the series does return, there’s little doubt that both Rossif Sutherland and Kristin Kreuk would return to their roles as coleads Karl Alberg and Cassandra Lee. Supporting players who would also be expected to return include Dakota Guppy as Holly, Aaron Douglas as Sid Sokolowski, and Bethany Brown as Layla. It’s unclear whether Savonna Spracklin would return as police official Isabella, since the character has expressed an interest in attending law school; similarly unclear is whether Marcia Gay Harden‘s Mayor Christy Holman would return (although series creator Ian Weir has expressed an interest in having her back, if possible). Others who could return for more are Cassandra Sawtell as Karl’s other daughter, Steph, Teryl Rothery as Cassandra’s mother, Helen, and Joshua Close as Todd Loomis.
What will happen in Murder in a Small Town Season 3?
The series’ producers have lifted the veil on some of their hopes for a third season.
Speaking to TV Insider earlier in the season, executive producer Jeff Wachtel teased, “One of the things that we’ve talked about is building a family, and the notion of inclusion, and also how inclusion is messy, right? It’s easy to exclude people, but once you start to bring people in and try to create a family, that gets kind of messy, and Karl blew it the first time. And he’s a very fortunate guy that he didn’t lose the relationship with his now-adult children, or almost-adult children, and he gets a second crack at it. And for him to have success this time, he is going to really need to lean into his more thoughtful, caring, intuitive self, which is certainly there, and it’s there in the person of Alberg, but it’s really there in the person of Rossif, who is so much that man. So it’s going to be not just a subtext tool… It’s going to be part of the text of Season 3 as he tries to do better this time.”
He also hinted that we could delve more into Karl’s backstory, particularly with the mystery of his father still at issue. “Season 3, knock on wood, should we be fortunate to get there, is going to be about that, and in Season 2, we really lay a lot of that framework of that abandonment, that Karl felt from his dad, and how it impacted the way he looks at relationships and has kind of damaged him as a grown-up. So we’ve experienced a lot of that as these two people, Karl and Cassandra, are getting to know each other and each other’s relative vulnerabilities, and then knock wood, if we get our show continuing, that’s something we’re really going to dive into.”
Meanwhile, fellow EP Tina Pehme teased that Cassandra’s reticence to truly let Karl in — as evidenced by her cagey behavior when he came to her house and, later, her decision to conceal the truth of why she left Sacramento — will come into play in a big way. “It is about family and about compromise and also holding on… What is she going to hold on to? What do they give back? What do they give to each other? What do they crack open?”
Following that romantic finale cliffhanger, we also caught up with Rossif Sutherland and Ian Weir to dissect what they think next, so read all about that right here.
Murder in a Small Town, Fox