‘Grantchester’: Could Alphy Meeting His Mother Go South? Rishi Nair & Showrunner Tease Season 11

Reverend Alphy Kottaram (Rishi Nair) was moments away from meeting his biological mother when the Grantchester Season 10 finale came to a close. It’s a first-time cliffhanger for a Grantchester ender, a move that showrunner Daisy Coulam told TV Insider was worth the risk even if the show hadn’t been guaranteed another season (Season 11 will be its last). They had an “inkling” Season 10 wouldn’t be their last when making the episode, so they went for it with the cliffhanger ending, she told us. Now, the task at hand is figuring out what happens after fate came knocking. Will Alphy’s first meeting with his mother go well? Coulam and Nair have some contrasting outlooks on this.

Grantchester Season 11 is currently in production. Coulam promised that viewers will meet Alphy’s mother in the new episodes. Alphy’s mother gave him up for adoption when he was just a baby, and he grew up in an orphanage. Alphy’s biological family became a major storyline for the vicar in Season 10, namely the emotional trauma that stemmed from not knowing them. There was a degree to which Alphy felt unlovable because he was put up for adoption, and it impacted his ability to romantically connect with people. His first serious love interest, Meg (Christie Russell-Brown), could tell that whatever Alphy was going through internally meant that he wasn’t yet ready for a serious relationship, and she put their courtship on the back burner as a result. Their interest in each other isn’t gone, but Alphy has to heal through the traumas of his past before he can move forward with anyone in the future. Season 11 may give him that chance.

When asked if we’ll meet Alphy’s mother in the final season, Coulam told TV Insider, “We will and it probably won’t go smoothly. We wanted to do something realistic about how children and parents, despite having a blood connection, sometimes it’s tricky — if you’ve not been in each other’s lives — to find that connection. There’s almost a closeness in age between them that gives it a very interesting dynamic.”

Nair, however, is really hoping the first meeting will go well (naturally!). But he’s realistic about the possibility that it could go south. He also implied that Alphy may not find his biological mother right away.

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“We’ve ended Season 10 with Alphy knocking on the door to his mother’s [home]. I hope that [moment] is a positive, good thing [for] him,” Nair told PBS about his hopes for Grantchester Season 11. “I hope that if it is his mother behind the door, that she’s happy to see him and happy to be reunited. … I guess it could go two ways — it could be really nice for him, or it could all end in tears.”

Grantchester Season 11 is set in the summer of 1963. In it, “Alphy is learning more about his past,” PBS’s synopsis says. “He comes to realize that there is a whole other life he could have led, making him question who he is and what he believes in. He’s also continuing to get to know Meg, the Bishop’s daughter … In Season 11 everyone will question the paths they are on, and some huge decisions will be made. This season will look at family, forgiveness, identity, and faith — big changes are coming to Grantchester.”

After all of the transformative experiences to come, Coulam promises a happy ending for the Grantchester series finale. “We can almost guarantee that,” she told TV Insider. “What’s hard is there are so many characters I want to honor and so many friendships, but we’ve got an idea of how we can bring everyone together in a lovely way that honors the show and suggests the passing of time.”

Do you think Alphy’s mother should be a recurring character in Grantchester‘s final season? Or should this be a limited guest-star role? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section.