Tom Brittney To Exit 'Grantchester' As Season 9 is Confirmed

Perhaps the smartest thing series creator Daisy Coulam did in adapting James Runchie's The Sidney Chambers Mysteries was rename it Grantchester. By naming the series after the village instead of the character, she took a series about a James Bond wannabe jazz-loving priest, and made it an ensemble about a community. Her departure from the books allowed it to weather the exit of star James Norton as the titular Sidney Chambers, and now it will outlast his replacement, Tom Brittney, whose character, Will Davenport, will depart at the end of Season 8.

The confirmation Grantchester has been commissioned for Season 9 without Brittney is a far smoother transition than Norton's. The original actor's departure from the series caused a year's delay between Seasons 3 and 4 before confirming the obvious. Then the end of Season 3, in which Sidney broke up with the love of his life to stay in Grantchester, had to hastily take a hard left by having Chambers fall in love with a random American and follow her across the pond in the Season 4 premiere.

Though Season 8 still has five episodes to go on PBS, Grantchester obviously already has Will's exit planned and cast Brittney's replacement as Season 9 filming commences in the U.K. The new hot vicar taking over Grantchester's religious community will be played by Rishi Nair (Whitstable Pearl) as charismatic vicar Alphy Kotteram.