The Shetland Islands have always been a character in their own right—rugged cliffs battered by North Sea gales, vast skies that swallow secrets, and communities where everyone knows your name, your history, and your sins. For a decade, the BBC’s acclaimed crime drama Shetland has mined this isolation for gripping tales of murder and morality, evolving from the brooding introspection of DI Jimmy Perez to the sharper, more combustible dynamic of his successors. Now, as the series storms into its milestone tenth season on November 5, 2025, the explosive trailer has unleashed a torrent of anticipation. Fans are in meltdown: two iconic detectives reclaim the spotlight amid a brutal new crime that unearths long-buried horrors in a remote village. Darker, more visceral, and laced with emotional landmines, this is the Shetland that promises to shatter expectations and leave viewers reeling from a twist that redefines the archipelago’s fragile peace.

The trailer, dropped like a thunderclap in late October, opens with the familiar howl of wind over desolate moors, cutting to the grim discovery that sets the season alight: the body of retired social worker Eadie Tulloch, exposed to the elements for days in the isolated hamlet of Lunniswick. “About as bad as it gets,” mutters DI Ruth Calder, her voice laced with the weariness of a woman who’s seen too much mainland madness to be shocked by island brutality. What follows is a montage of escalating dread—frantic chases through fog-shrouded streets, an inexplicable explosion shattering the night, and close-ups of suspects whose faces betray generations of resentment. DI Alison “Tosh” McIntosh, ever the local heartbeat, warns of “shocking, long-buried secrets” rising like ghosts from the peat. And then, the gut-punch: a revelation that flips alliances, forcing Calder and Tosh to question not just the villagers, but their own team. It’s a season billed as “gnarly and emotional,” where the crime isn’t just a puzzle—it’s a scalpel slicing open the islands’ underbelly.

At the helm are Ashley Jensen and Alison O’Donnell, reprising their roles as Calder and Tosh in a partnership that’s become the show’s beating heart. Jensen, the Glasgow-born powerhouse known for Extras and After Life, brought a prickly outsider energy when she inherited the lead from Douglas Henshall’s Perez in Season 8. Calder is all sharp edges and suppressed trauma—a Shetland native who fled for the Met, only to be dragged back by duty and demons. “This series we’ve become a little more insular,” Jensen revealed during filming, praising the shift to Lunniswick’s tight-knit web where “all the locals are suspects.” Her Calder is evolving: less the reluctant returnee, more a force reckoning with roots she can’t outrun. Opposite her, O’Donnell shines as Tosh, the promoted DI whose island intuition clashes with Calder’s big-city skepticism. A Shetlander through and through, Tosh’s personal stakes hit harder this time—her partnership with Donnie (Angus Miller) and her deep community ties make every betrayal feel like a knife to the gut. Their chemistry? Electric. As O’Donnell put it, “Ashley and I just scratched the surface of our dynamic in Series 8. Now, we’re building something unbreakable—or so we thought.”

The supporting squad grounds the chaos with familiar reliability. Steven Robertson returns as the steadfast DC Sandy Wilson, the moral compass who’s weathered more storms than most. Lewis Howden’s Sgt Billy McCabe brings gruff humor to the bullpen, while Anne Kidd’s pathologist Cora McLean delivers those chilling autopsy insights that turn stomachs. Conor McCarry’s PC Alex Grant and Eubha Akilade’s PC Lorna Burns add youthful vigor, and Steven Miller reprises Rev Alan Calder, Ruth’s brother, whose clerical collar hides family fractures. New to the core team is Samuel Anderson as Procurator Fiscal Matt Blake, the sharp-suited prosecutor whose arrival in the trailer sparks immediate tension—his by-the-book approach promises to butt heads with the detectives’ gut instincts.

But it’s the guest cast that injects fresh venom into Lunniswick’s veins. Clive Russell, the towering menace from The Witcher, looms as Arthur Mair, a villager whose secrets could bury the investigation. Ellie Haddington (Motherland) plays Lana Mair with a fragility that masks steel, while Niall MacGregor (Line of Duty) embodies Tom Jameson, a man haunted by the past. Louise Brealey (Sherlock) brings nuance to Isobel Jameson, and Greg McHugh (Guilt) adds volatile energy as Colin Waite. Frances Gray (Vera) and Stephen McMillan (Boiling Point) round out the Powells, a family rife with dysfunction. Then there’s Stuart Townsend as Ed Tulloch, the victim’s kin whose grief twists into something darker, and a host of others—Saskia Ashdown, Gabriel Akuwudike, Joanne Thomson—painting a portrait of a community where loyalty curdles into complicity.

Filming wrapped earlier in 2025 across Scotland and the real Shetland Isles, transforming Levenwick into the fictional Lunniswick—a scatter of houses hugging a beach, where neighbors know too much and the land guards its dead. Directors Andrew Cumming and Ruth Paxton capture the claustrophobia: sweeping drone shots of endless ocean giving way to suffocating interiors lit by flickering peat fires. Writer Paul Logue, architect of Season 9’s twists, crafts a narrative that’s less about whodunit and more about why—the victim’s work with troubled families unearthing abuses long swept under crofts. “Paul has created a distinctive and emotionally complex story,” executive producer Kate Bartlett enthused, set against landscapes that feel alive with malice.

The trailer’s release ignited a firestorm online. Within hours, it racked up millions of views, with fans dissecting every frame: the explosion hinting at sabotage, a fleeting shot of Tosh in peril, Calder’s haunted stare at a file that could implicate someone close. “This is the darkest yet—Calder and Tosh are BACK and better!” one viral post screamed, while another theorized the twist involves a cover-up spanning decades, tying into Eadie’s social work files. Reddit threads exploded with speculation: Is Matt Blake more foe than ally? Will Sandy’s loyalty crack under pressure? The buzz peaked with hashtags like #ShetlandStorm and #LunniswickSecrets trending globally, proving the show’s enduring grip even after Perez’s departure sparked doubts.

Shetland‘s journey from Ann Cleeves’ novels to screen icon began in 2013, a moody antidote to flashy procedurals. Henshall’s Perez carried the early seasons with quiet intensity, solving cases amid personal loss—his wife’s death, his stepdaughter Cassie’s turmoil. The handover to Jensen was bold, but Seasons 8 and 9 proved the formula’s resilience: atmospheric tension over gore, character depth over shocks. Season 9’s mixed reception—praised for ambition but critiqued for pacing—only heightened stakes for 10. BBC commissioning editor Gaynor Holmes called it “compellingly new,” a murder-mystery that probes isolation’s toll in a post-pandemic world where communities cling tighter, secrets fester deeper.

What sets this season apart is its emotional ferocity. The trailer teases loyalties tested like never before: a betrayal that could fracture the team, personal revelations forcing Tosh to confront her island idyll’s cracks, Calder facing ghosts from her mainland past. “It’s about as bad as it gets,” echoes not just the crime, but the human cost. In Lunniswick, where the body lay exposed, nature strips away pretenses—much like the investigation will strip the villagers bare.

As November 5 approaches, with weekly episodes on BBC One and iPlayer, the Shetland storm is poised to engulf us. Six installments of unrelenting suspense, where a brutal murder spirals into a reckoning with the past. Fans are bracing: this isn’t just another case—it’s the one that breaks them. Darker, deadlier, more heartbreaking than ever, Season 10 reminds us why we’ve returned to these windswept shores for a decade. The secrets are out. The twist is coming. And Shetland, like its gales, shows no mercy.