*Warning – contains full spoilers for all six episodes of The Capture season 3.*
It’s now been a couple of days since the final episode of The Capture season 3 was released on BBC iPlayer, and already fans are desperate to know whether a fourth run of the techno-thriller is on the cards.
For his part, creator Ben Chanan has always been clear that he wrote the third season intending for it to be the show’s last, but has admitted that his certainty on that front has wavered over time.
He recently told The Independent: “Three is a nice number. A trilogy feels nice. What we do after this, I don’t know. This is maybe it.”
However, with regards to the emergence of AI and deepfake technology, he added that “we’re just at the beginning of it, so there’s plenty of material and inspiration if we want to do another series.”
Meanwhile, Rachel Carey star Holliday Grainger told the publication: “I feel like all the best shows are trilogies. But who knows? The Capture has the scope to go on – and to go anywhere. So I guess that would depend on Ben’s brain.”
Season 3’s finale, bumper-length episode brought Rachel Carey’s battle with E Squadron and her investigation into Isaac Turner’s death to a close – but is this the end of the road for the character, and the series, full stop?
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Read on for everything you need to know about the potential for The Capture season 4.
Will there be The Capture season 4?
We don’t yet know whether there will be a fourth season of The Capture. Creator Ben Chanan has previously stated that he wrote the third season intending it to be the show’s last, but by the time it was releasing was less certain that that would be the case.
He told Radio Times, when discussing the death of Ron Perlman’s character Frank Napier: “I’d think to myself, as I was writing it, ‘This is going to be the last series.’ Now, is that true? I don’t know. Never say never, right? But I think it’s really healthy to just write each series as if it’s going to be the last, that you’re not just hanging on to people for the sake of it.”
He continued: “I think actors don’t mind dying in a series, particularly if it’s probably going to be the last one, but also, if you give them a really good send off.”
If this is where we leave The Capture, it has certainly wrapped up the bulk of its story, even if it was in a very downbeat way. At the end of season 3, Rachel Carey had officially become the Commander of Counter Terror, but in doing so had sold out on her ideals and compromised herself, meaning she had lost to E Squadron.
They would continue using Correction in the knowledge that she would never be able to reveal that to the public or do anything about it.
However, one element of the story was left hanging – that final tease, which saw Rachel Carey spotting the dead Gemma Garland in the background of a selfie she had just taken, only for her to disappear from the image moments later.
Whether this was something that happened technologically or just in Rachel’s head is, at this moment, uncertain. However, it does leave one tantalising thread hanging which could be picked up in a future season.
For now, we will just have to wait and see what the future holds for The Capture, and whether a season 4 could be on the cards.
When would a potential The Capture season 4 be released?
If The Capture were to return for a fourth season, we’d imagine we could be waiting a while. There were three years between seasons 1 and 2, and then another four years between seasons 2 and 3.
Ben Chanan explained these delays back in 2023, when asked whether the show could return for a third season.
Back then he said: “I think that the world of deep fakes and fake news and AI, it keeps developing. I think we went quite far with The Capture in terms of what the hell could happen next, in terms of the sort of fear of what could happen.
“I think we went quite far across the two series, and I almost feel sometimes like I need to take a minute and wait for the news to catch up or for predictions, nightmare predictions of what’s next.
“Because it’s not so much a futuristic thing, it’s kind of a what’s happening now thing, and so part of me feels like I need to take a break and unfortunately wait to see where the news takes us and where the world takes us and then respond.”
It seems likely that, were a fourth season to emerge, Chanan would need to wait for the news to catch up again, and new technological nightmares to emerge over time.
All this means we could perhaps be looking at a release date in 2029 or 2030 – but of course, that is entirely guess work at this point.
We will keep this page updated with any news regarding the future of The Capture as and when we get it.
Who would return to star in a potential The Capture season 4?
If The Capture were to return for a fourth season, its returning cast would be significantly slimmed down. This is because a whole host of central characters were killed off across the most recent six episodes.
Long-time characters including Ron Perlman’s Frank Napier and Lia Williams’s Gemma Garland bit the dust, as did major season 2 character Isaac Turner, played by Paapa Essiedu.
Meanwhile, there were central figures introduced in season 3 who met their ends too, most crucially Killian Scott’s Noah Pierson and Joe Dempsie’s James Whitlock.
However, we would still of course expect Holliday Grainger to be back as Rachel Carey, while Ben Miles, Ginny Holder, Nigel Lindsay, Tessa Wong, Indira Varma and Daisy Waterstone would also be likely candidates for a return.
Here’s a list of the characters we could potentially see returning in a fourth season of The Capture, if the show were to be renewed:
- Holliday Grainger as Acting Commander Rachel Carey
- Ben Miles as Danny Hart
- Ginny Holder as DI Nadia Latif
- Nigel Lindsay as DSU Tom Kendricks
- Hugh Quarshie as Commissioner Cameron Yates
- Andrew Buchan as Deputy Commissioner Julian Talbot
- Indira Varma as Khadija Khan
- Tessa Wong as DC Chloe Tan
- Daisy Waterstone as Abigail Carey
- Andy Nyman as Rowan Gill
- Linus Roache as Colonel Figgis
- Amanda Drew as Angela Stilon
- Adrian Rawlins as Lord Frederickson
Is there a trailer for The Capture season 4?
There isn’t a trailer available for The Capture season 4 yet, as not only has it not been filmed yet, but the show hasn’t actually been renewed yet either. We will make sure to add any new footage in if and when it is released, but in the meantime you can rewatch the trailer for season 3 here.
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The Capture seasons 1-3 are available to watch in full now on BBC iPlayer.
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