Peter Capaldi in The Musketeers
Peter Capaldi's character is to be pronounced dead in The Musketeers second series.
The actor's time-consuming new role as the titular Time Lord in 'Doctor Who' has meant his Cardinal Richelieu character has had to be axed from the BBC One period drama, with Marc Warren replacing him as a brand new villain.
Since writers were unaware of Peter's high-profile new job at the time of filming the first series of 'The Musketeers', the Cardinal wasn't given a proper send-off during his final episode.
Tom Burke, who stars as Athos, told Radio Times magazine: "Come the next series, the Cardinal will be dead. He'll just be gone.
"We're all like, 'Where's the Cardinal? Oh he's dead.' It's a great example of economic storytelling. Their new nemesis will be Rochefort, who's played by Marc Warren."
It was recently confirmed that 'Mad Dogs' star Marc had joined the cast as the Comte De Rochefort, a "dashing and persuasive aristocrat with a talent for sword fighting and a taste for adventure", but Cardinal Richelieu's fate was unknown at the time.
Filming for the second series has already begun in Prague, and Tom's fellow Musketeers Luke Pasqualino, Howard Charles and Santiago Cabrera are all returning to the programme.
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