Shaun Evans is saying goodbye to Endeavour after 11 years and nine incredible seasons, with the final episode set to air on Sunday 12 March. Ahead of the show's ending, the actor – who portrays a young Inspector Morse – delivered an emotional parting message to Memorable TV, explaining:
WATCH: Endeavour is ending after nine seasons
"I feel incredibly proud of Endeavour. Grateful for the experience and proud of the work. Not only my own work but also the work of all of the other actors. I'm proud that we've all been with it from the start and that everyone has brought their best work repeatedly to it. Including Russell Lewis, all of the executive team, all of the directors and all of the actors too. I just felt very grateful. But also that it was time to move on."
MORE: Why is Endeavour ending after series nine? All we know about show's finale
READ: Endeavour star Shaun Evans reveals heartbreaking ending for his character
He also spoke to Radio Times about what fans can expect from the finale, recalling: "What we wanted to do was to end Endeavour in a way that was fitting to all of the enormous work we had put into it over the last 10 years and also to all of the huge support we have had every year from the audience. To not leave anybody feeling short changed. To leave people feeling emotionally satisfied."
© Photo: RexShaun Evans stars alongside Roger Allam on the ITV drama
Shaun continued: "It's also a thank you, in a way. To say, 'Thank you so much for sticking with this over the past number of years.' To honour and respect that. So it's all of those things.
"Also for it to feel irreconcilable. For it to feel closed. In terms of we won't be seeing Joan and Thursday again. We will see Morse and Strange again 'later on' in Inspector Morse but they will be very different versions of themselves. But our story is at its end."
© Photo: RexThe final episode of Endeavour will air on Sunday 12 March
Asked about what the show was hoping to achieve with the finale, Shaun admitted: "Final episodes are always very difficult. You can't please all of the people all of the time.
Earlier this month, the Inspector Morse actor teased a heartbreaking ending for his character, Endeavour Morse. During an interview with ITV, he explained: "What we discover in these final three films is that, for one reason or another, he cannot reach out. And so his isolation and lonesomeness is completely cemented. And that's where I wanted to leave it. Because then it's a good place to be picked up again 15 years later in 1987 when the Inspector Morse series with John Thaw started."
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