Happy Valley fans are convinced the show will return despite producers firmly stating Sunday night's finale was the very last episode.
The explosive ending over the weekend saw Sarah Lancashire as Catherine Cawood have a showdown with the murderous Tommy Lee Royce, played by James Norton. Despite the nail-biting conclusion to the gritty BBC cop drama, many fans still have unanswered questions regarding that weren't answered.
The final instalment saw murderer Tommy break into Catherine's home after escaping prison, covered in blood and bruises. After a dramatic confrontation, Tommy then doused himself in petrol saying the taser would no longer work and he was going take his own life before going back to jail.
"I've already taken a load of pills anyway, belt and braces me. I'm not going back to prison," he said before lighting a match.
Catherine managed to put out the fire, and solemnly walked out of her house before breaking into tears hysterically and being confronted by her sister Clare Cartwright, who was played by Siobhan Finneran, writes the Mirror.
Many viewers were happy to see Catherine make it out of the series alive and unharmed, others were left confused regarding the subplots involving the pharmacist-turned-murderer and the abusive P.E teacher. Fans were convinced that the series should return for a fourth to resolve the unanswered plot points.
One disappointed fan took fumed online: "#HappyValley ending? Hopeless! Paid lip service to the teacher/pharmacist storyline, and other than that Tommy torches himself! Really poor imho!"
Another agreed, tweeting: "The ending of happy valley was disappointing…. didn’t see anyone get charged with joanna’s murder or that pharmacist get arrested? pls tell me a sister show will come out."
While some fans were overcome with disappointment, others took it as a sign there may be more to come from Happy Valley.
"That was a cop out," one fan began writing on Twitter. They continued: "Why was ur man in the car the double of Neil? We need series 4 to bring Faisal to justice and also a ‘Cawood’ series with Catherine investigating crimes in exotic locations a la white lotus/glass onion #HappyValleyFinale #HappyValley."
"That whole scene was giving me major series 4 ep 1 vibes… except more murder risk #HappyValley," another added, with a third tweeting: "Nah I didn’t get any answers out of that roll on series 4 -6 #happyvalley."
One fan predicted: "Series 4 is coming - when Ryan is a police officer… can’t wait #happyvalley."
Speaking to GQ Magazine ahead of the show's finale, creator Sally Wainwright revealed she thinks production have "done a good job" of wrapping things up when it comes to the ending.
"During filming of series two, Sarah and I started talking about doing the final series and being really clear that it was a final series," she explained to GQ.
Sally added: "Sarah is always really good at knowing when to stop doing stuff. I thought it would make a really clear statement that this is the end of the story. It's been a fantastic series, but we're going to make a really definite finale. You never know how anything's going to go down, but I think we've done a good job."
*All three series of Happy Valley are available to stream on BBC iPlayer now
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