These Twitter Accounts Have All The 'Shetland' Intel You Need In Your Life

The highly anticipated season five of Shetland, the Scandi-noir-like murder mystery show that takes place on the Scottish island of its namesake, has made this winter feel even more blustering. It kicked off in late February with more twists and turns than a river flowing through a Scottish valley, but it's gone by way too quickly. Now that the season is coming to a close, it's time to look ahead and ask: will Shetland return for season six? At the moment, there's just about as much mystery surrounding a potential sixth season as there is in the actual show itself.

Season five of Shetland will round off on Tuesday, March 19 on BBC1 at 9 p.m. in what's sure to be an explosive season finale. It'll complete the six-part season, and, as per the official site's synopsis for the final episode, it'll see "Olivia giving up hope," while "Perez at last closes in on Zezi’s location. But can he reach her before it’s too late?" Meanwhile, the synopsis states, "Duncan is traumatised after his discovery on the beach."

You can watch a clip from the final episode on the BBC website to get a taster of what's to come. But brace yourself: the Shetland finales are always particularly intense.

As far as I can see, there's yet to be any word on whether Shetland will be commissioned for a sixth season, but Bustle has reached out to a BBC rep to see if they have any comment on the possibility of a Shetland renewal, and I'll update you if we hear anything.

However, if you want to stay updated in the meantime, your best bet may be to follow lead man DI Perez aka Douglas Henshall on Twitter. He's always on the ball when it comes to all things Shetland, and he even used his Twitter account to announce when season five would begin shooting.

He shared an image of the script for the opening episode of season five in May, 2018, captioning it: "This is happening. We start shooting July 9th. It’s very good."

Shetland's renewal for season five had been announced a couple months prior to Henshall's tweet, when the BBC revealed soon after season four's hair-rising finale that the show would be back again to add goosebumps to your midweek TV schedule. BBC Scotland tweeted the news on March 20, 2018, writing: "Great news! Our drama series #Shetland will return to @BBCOne," alongside a steely, cold-looking snap of Perez.

That means you'll also want to follow BBC Scotland's Twitter account for an update on season six's status. If the programmer chooses to follow suit from last year's reveal, then you should be able to expect a season six announcement around the end of March. Fingers crossed.

If season five's reviews are anything to go by, then I figure that the BBC will really want to recommission this acclaimed show. The Independent gave its season opener a glittering four-star review, saying: "Everything about Shetland (BBC1) is so well-judged that it seems unfair to pick on one performance in particular. I have to, though: Douglas Henshall ... There is something about the undemonstrative, thoughtful, dreich Perez personality that is so naturalistically captured by Henshall," TV critic Sean O'Grady wrote. That's the stuff of several more seasons, I reckon.

In the meantime, you can catch up with any episodes you might have missed, or simply relive the entire season for a second (or third or fourth...) time on the BBC iPlayer.