'Grantchester': Tom Brittney to Exit After Season 9

Will Davenport is officially leaving the village of Grantchester, as Tom Brittney will be departing the detective drama after the upcoming ninth season. Masterpiece Mystery on PBS confirmed the news, with Brittney saying in a statement that he's "had the most incredible time playing Will Davenport for the last five years. I got to solve crimes with my best friend and work with the best cast and crew I could ever ask for. I'll miss it more than anything. But it's time for the baton to be passed, as it once was to me, and I'm so excited for Rishi to join the Grantchester family."

The British ITV series is based on a collection of short stories by James Runcie titled The Grantchester Mysteries. Since Season 4, Tom Brittney has portrayed Reverend Will Davenport, who works alongside Detective Inspector Geordi Keating to form a partnership to solve crimes. Season 9 is set to take place in 1961, where Will and Geordi have been getting their families together to become one big happy family. However, Will is approached with a "life-changing offer," and it will likely be the reason why he's leaving Grantchester.

While Brittney will, unfortunately, be leaving the series, Grantchester won't be without a vicar for long. The village will soon be welcoming the charismatic vicar Alphy Kotteram, portrayed by Rishi Nair. And he is "absolutely thrilled" to be joining the Grantchester family, as he says, "The welcome and support I've received from everyone has been overwhelming. The success of the show and the reason we are here for a ninth season is a testament to all the people that have previously worked on it. I'm really excited to get started and cannot wait for the Granchester fans to meet Alphy and to see all that's in store for him."

Filming for Grantchester is currently underway, even with the actors' strike, which may or may not have an impact on it since it is overseas, so fans probably have a little while to prepare their goodbyes before Tom Brittney officially leaves the series. Considering Season 8 is airing new episodes through early August, there will definitely be some time before Will Davenport leaves the village, so at least fans have some time to prepare. It will be interesting to see what type of life-changing offer Will could be getting that might make him leave the village and how he will say goodbye to Geordie and the others. For now, though, fans will just have to watch Season 8, airing on Sundays at 9 p.m. ET on Masterpiece Mysteries on PBS.