Murder In A Small Town Season 2 Features Malcolm-Jamal Warner's Last Performance — Here's Everything We Know So Far

New — and familiar! — faces are set to visit Gibsons this fall in Murder in a Small Town Season 2. Below, we're keeping you up-to-date on all the latest intel trickling in, including the air date of Malcolm-Jamal Warner's final performance before his death in July.

The Fox drama, which was renewed for Season 2 back in January, is based on the award-winning Karl Alberg series by novelist L.R. Wright. Season 1 followed Karl Alberg (played by Rossif Sutherland) as he moved to the town of Gibsons to soothe a psyche that had been battered by big-city police work. There, he quickly learned that this gentle paradise harbored secrets that would call upon the skills that made him a world-class detective. Amid the chaos of crime, he met Cassandra Lee (Kristin Kreuk), a local librarian who became Karl's muse, foil and romantic interest.

The series premiered in September 2024, earning an average reader grade of "B+" with its first episode, and concluded its eight-episode run in November. Averaging 3.15 million total viewers (with delayed playback), it was Fox's fifth most-watched non-sports program of the fall.

Wondering what's next for Murder in a Small Town? Keep scrolling for everything we know about Season 2 so far.

We will see the returns of stars Rossif Sutherland as Karl Alberg and Kristin Kreuk as Cassandra Lee. The pair sealed Season 1 with a kiss, promising to continue to support each other through the ups and downs of their lives.

It's also expected that Mya Lowe will return as Corporal Edwina Yen, the local cop who worked closely with Karl during his first year in Gibsons; Aaron Douglas as Sergeant Sid Sokolowski, Karl's second-in-command who has suggested he may want to retire soon; Savonna Spracklin as Isabella Harbud, who works the front desk at the police station; and Fritzy-Klevans Destine as Constable Andy Kendrick, another member of the Gibsons police force.

Meanwhile, Noah Reid (Schitt's Creek) will reprise his role as Tommy Cummins, the unassuming high school art teacher whose greatest work put him behind bars.

Per People, The Cosby Show alum, who was 54 when he died while swimming off the coast of Costa Rica during a family vacation on July 20, filmed a guest appearance for Fox's Murder in a Small Town Season 2 before his passing.

In Episode 3, Warner guest-stars as Richard Buscombe, a protective father who becomes a lead suspect in a murder investigation when his ex-wife is killed just after returning to town, People reports. Still heartbroken years after the split, Richard wears his anger and pain on his sleeve, but his only goal in life is to keep his daughter safe. 

The episode is set to air on Tuesday, Oct. 7.

As previously reported, four-time Emmy nominee Marcia Gay Harden, most recently of CBS' So Help Me Todd, has boarded Season 2 in the series-regular role of Mayor Christie Holman.

Holman is described as "a beloved figure in the community," "a consummate political operator" and "a practicing doctor [who] has the best interests of the people of Gibsons, British Columbia at heart," though "sometimes she lets her personal interests take precedence."

Madam Mayor will "complicate life" for Karl and Cassandra "as she uses the competing priorities of the community to advance her own agenda."

What's more, Bethany Brown (The Good Doctor), Marci T. House (Happy Face) and Joshua Close (Fargo) have joined the Fox procedural.

Per Variety, Brown will play Corporal Laila Jackson, Alberg's former Minneapolis coworker who joins Gibsons PD. She faces her own demons as a recovering alcoholic, and the stress from Gibsons understaffed department threatens her recovery. Meanwhile, House comes on as Angela Clyburn, a detail-oriented medical examiner, and Close will play Todd, an unhoused man in Gibsons who becomes connected to a violent crime.

Season 2 guest stars include Camryn Manheim (Law & Order) as Jocelyn Tait, an iron-tough, working-class matriarch, who has lived her life in the shadow of a family feud and comes to Gibsons for a "Romeo and Juliet-style" wedding; Tyler Posey (Teen Wolf) as Ryan, a former party boy turned holistic health aficionado, who is desperate to leave behind a reckless past; Jamie Chung (Accused) as Lanni Soo, a career-driven and straight-forward, Deputy Prosecuting Attorney General, who approaches Alberg with an intriguing case; and Sara Canning (The Vampire Diaries) as Mackenzie Rankin, a woman who organizes a memorial gathering following the death of her younger sister.

Karl and Cassandra reconciled in the Season 1 finale, sharing a kiss after a complicated romantic run. Cassandra revealed her desire to run for town council, sharing that she might focus more on police oversight than the arts, and hinted at the possibility of partnering up with Karl more formally in Season 2.

As for the final murder investigation, Alberg and his team ultimately tracked down an unlikely serial killer terrorizing Gibsons: local art teacher Tommy Cummins (Noah Reid). After finding a connection between Tommy's portraits of women and photos of murder victims, Alberg realized the artist had probably killed more people than he could have even imagined. After a brief standoff between the murderer and the cops, Alberg detained Tommy.

Back at the police station, the chief confronted Tommy about three known murders, demanding to know how many of his portraits depict other victims. He didn't get any answers, but with Tommy in custody, the town of Gibsons appeared to be safe from harm for the time being.

The Season 2 synopsis for Murder in a Small Town has not yet been released. Should the series pick up where Season 1 left off, we can expect to see Karl continuing his work as police chief, and Cassandra running for town council. When we last saw the pair, they were going to try keeping their relationship afloat. Those two, however, do have a history as an on-again-off-again kind of couple, so we expect several more bumps in the road.

Murder in a Small Town Season 2 will premiere on Tuesday, Sept. 23 at 8/7c. (Check Fox's full fall schedule.)

TVLine exclusively revealed the first Murder in a Small Town Season 2 trailer in early August. The footage sees Marcia Gay Harden assuming office as Mayor Christie Holman. (Watch below.)

If you're hoping to binge all eight episodes from Murder in a Small Town Season 1, you can do so over on Hulu.