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Oscar-winning actress Olivia Colman is joining the sixth season of Only Murders in the Building, which will take Steve Martin, Martin Short and Selena Gomez’s amateur detectives outside New York for their first international investigation.
The popular mystery-comedy follows semi-retired actor Charles-Haden Savage (Martin), Broadway director Oliver Putnam (Short) and artist Mabel Mora (Gomez), three neighbors who bond over their love of true crime. After a suspicious death occurs inside the Arconia, their upscale Manhattan apartment building, they launch a podcast and begin investigating the case themselves. Each season has since introduced a new murder and an increasingly impressive group of guest stars, including Meryl Streep, Paul Rudd, Renée Zellweger, Eugene Levy, Eva Longoria and Zach Galifianakis.
Season six will move the investigation to London, where production is currently underway. The story is expected to continue from the fifth-season finale, which connected rival podcaster Cinda Canning (Tina Fey) to a new case involving the death of a royal descendant. Series co-creator John Hoffman has also suggested the London setting will allow the show to explore the traditions of British detective fiction associated with writers such as Agatha Christie and Arthur Conan Doyle.
Colman’s role has not yet been revealed, but behind-the-scenes footage showed Gomez, Streep and Short welcoming her to the set. The British icon won the Best Actress Academy Award for her performance as Queen Anne in The Favourite. She is also widely known for playing Queen Elizabeth II in The Crown from 2019 to 2020, and detective Ellie Miller in Broadchurch. Her ability to move easily between comedy and drama makes her a natural addition to the show’s mix of eccentric humor, emotional storytelling and murder mystery.
She joins a large group of British and Irish stars appearing in undisclosed roles, including David Tennant (who starred alongside Colman in Broadchurch), Jodie Whittaker, Martin Freeman, Simone Ashley, Geri Halliwell-Horner, Jim Broadbent, Jennifer Saunders, Richard Ayoade, Derek Jacobi, Lesley Nicol, Anjana Vasan and Jane Horrocks.
A premiere date for the sixth season has not yet been announced. Earlier seasons of Only Murders in the Building are available to stream on Hulu in the United States and Disney+ in Canada. ~Chidera Arimah