{"id":471669,"date":"2026-05-28T17:53:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-28T17:53:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/471669\/"},"modified":"2026-05-28T17:53:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-28T17:53:09","slug":"fan-backlash-forces-john-reardon-to-return-to-hudson-rex-season-9","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/471669\/","title":{"rendered":"Fan Backlash Forces John Reardon to Return to Hudson &#038; Rex Season 9"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\tRecasting the lead of a popular TV drama is always a risk, especially when a loyal dog character losing its master is involved. <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\tSo when angry fans of the Canadian cop and dog drama Hudson &amp; Rex spoke after John Reardon as Detective Charlie Hudson over seven seasons was replaced by British actor Luke Roberts as Detective Mark Hudson in season 8, indie producer Shaftesbury found itself in the firing line. <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\tThe Canadian procedural on Thursday received a ninth season order from local network Citytv, with news that Reardon, having completed a cancer treatment and in good health, was back on the case as Detective Hudson and alongside his trusted canine-partner Rex. <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\t\u201cJohn is a talented actor and we\u2019re incredibly pleased to have him return as Detective Charlie Hudson,\u201d Christina Jennings,\u00a0chairman\u00a0and CEO of Shaftesbury, said in a statement said of Reardon returning to the homegrown drama set in St. John\u2019s, Newfoundland. \u201cWe know that fans missed him and so did we. We look forward to getting back to work and bringing fans an exciting new season.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\tThe reinstatement follows Hudson &amp; Rex fans filling the show\u2019s\u00a0social media accounts with criticism and launching petitions calling for Reardon to be reunited with Rex on screen after news he would not appear in season 8 was announced. <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\t\u201cThe series has earned a passionate audience around the world, and\u00a0I\u2019m\u00a0grateful for the continued support.\u00a0I\u2019m\u00a0looking forward to beginning production on the new season with the cast, crew, creative team, production, and network partners\u00a0\u2013\u00a0and to sharing more adventures with Rex and the fans,\u201d Reardon said in his own statement.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\tProduced by Shaftesbury and Pope Productions Ltd., in association with Citytv and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/t\/international\/\" id=\"auto-tag_international_1\" data-tag=\"international\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">international<\/a> distributor <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/t\/beta-film\/\" id=\"auto-tag_beta-film_1\" data-tag=\"beta-film\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Beta Film<\/a>, Hudson &amp; Rex\u00a0has\u00a0been sold to over 100 territories including the United States, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/t\/italy\/\" id=\"auto-tag_italy_1\" data-tag=\"italy\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Italy<\/a>, Germany, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/t\/france\/\" id=\"auto-tag_france_1\" data-tag=\"france\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">France<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\tIn a Sept. 2025 <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/DO9xtSkDscC\/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading\" data-type=\"link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/DO9xtSkDscC\/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading\" target=\"_blank\">Instagram post<\/a>, Reardon revealed his recasting on Hudson &amp; Rex was not his choice. \u201cI\u2019ve been quiet for a while \u2014 partly because it was hard to find the words, and partly because I didn\u2019t want anyone else speaking for me. The truth is: I didn\u2019t leave Hudson &amp; Rex. After taking a couple months to go through cancer treatment, I was given a clean bill of health and cleared and ready to return to work. But the team chose to go in a different direction. Although this is not how I had hoped the 7 year journey would end \u2013 I\u2019m very appreciative of the opportunity to play a part in building something special,\u201d the popular Canadian actor wrote.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\tNow Reardon is back on board for another 12-episode season for Hudson &amp; Rex, and reuniting with his loyal canine-partner Rex, as marked in another Instagram post on Thursday.<\/p>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Recasting the lead of a popular TV drama is always a risk, especially when a loyal dog character&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":471670,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[105392,93,1814,61,1042,60,102,282],"class_list":["post-471669","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-beta-film","tag-entertainment","tag-france","tag-ie","tag-international","tag-ireland","tag-italy","tag-tv"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/471669","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=471669"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/471669\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/471670"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=471669"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=471669"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=471669"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}