Sad news, Miss Scarlet fans. TV Insider can confirm that Felix Scott will not return as Patrick Nash in Season 6.
Nash made an appearance in Season 5 Episode 4 before being whisked off to Australia for work. The logline for Season 6, the renewal for which was announced on February 19, confirms that Nash will have a narrative presence, but PBS confirms that he won't have a physical one, much like Stuart Martin's formerly titular Duke did in Season 5 following his exit.
The fan-favorite character was mentioned in the Season 6 description when the renewal, but Scott and Evan McCabe (who plays Oliver Fitzroy) were notably absent from the returning cast list. TV Insider reached out to Miss Scarlet reps for comment on why Scott has left the series and the possibility of Nash returning should the series be renewed for Season 7 in the future. As previously reported, McCabe will not be back in Season 6 because of a scheduling conflict.
"We can confirm that Evan will not be in Season 6 because he has been cast in The Royal Shakespeare Company's Hamlet," the rep told TV Insider on February 19.
Here's the official logline for Season 6: "As Eliza and Blake's once-fraught relationship begins to evolve, they find that working together may be a tricky prospect. Meanwhile, newlyweds Ivy and Potts adjust to married life, a new detective settles in at Scotland Yard, and Nash causes chaos, even from across the globe. Joining this season's adventures in his greatly anticipated return is Moses Valentine, who swoops in to help Eliza and her crew, just when they need him most."
Among those returning are star Kate Phillips as private investigator Eliza Scarlet, Season 5 newcomer Tom Durant-Pritchard as DI Alexander Blake, Cathy Belton as Ivy, Paul Bazely as Clarence, Simon Ludders as Mr. Potts, Tim Chipping as Detective Phelps, and Ansu Kabia as Moses.
Newcomers in Season 6 are Sam Buchanan as the new, young Detective George Willows who joins Scotland Yard after rising through the police ranks and Grace Hogg-Robinson as Isabel Summers, an ambitious young woman who joins the Clerical Office alongside Ivy.
Nash made his Miss Scarlet debut in Season 2 and came back in Season 3 (those two seasons were filmed back-to-back). He quickly became a fan-favorite and was considered an intriguing romantic alternative to the Duke for Eliza. Nash once ran London's most successful private investigator agency but found himself wanted for an alleged murder in Season 4 and behind bars in Season 5. He reconnected with Eliza upon his eventual release and is now headed to Australia. Eliza received a letter from the now New York-based Duke in Season 5 in which he asked her to join him. This was effectively a confession of his feelings, but Eliza wouldn't leave her life in London behind. She was still devastated that he wasn't coming back.
Given the romantic final moments of the Season 5 finale that aired on Sunday, February 16, Durant-Pritchard was clearly cast as the new romantic lead for the cozy detective drama. Blake and Eliza's "evolving" relationship teased in the Season 6 description, along with Nash's departure, implies that Blake will continue to be the primary love interest of the series.