Death in Paradise: what happened to Florence? She's left Saint Marie three times — and the actress says this one's final
Joséphine Jobert joined Death in Paradise in series 4 in 2015 as DS Florence Cassell, and stayed long enough to work alongside three different detective inspectors. She also departed the show on three separate occasions, which is why the question keeps getting asked.
Here's the order, and where it ended.
The three exits
- Series 8 (2019) — Florence's fiancé Patrice Campbell is murdered and she barely survives the same attack, then leaves Saint Marie. Jobert cited personal and professional reasons; DS Madeleine Dumas took over from the end of series 8 through series 9.
- Series 11 (2022) — in episode 4, Florence goes undercover as an au pair to gain the trust of suspected criminal Miranda Priestley, is exposed at gunpoint, and enters witness protection.
- Series 13 (2024) — she returns at the end of episode 6 after her witness protection status is lifted, then leaves for good in the finale on 24 March 2024, going travelling with Ralf Little's DI Neville Parker as he exits the show.
Why she left the second time
Jobert had already come back once, for series 10 in 2021, having assumed series 8 was the end of it. Speaking to HELLO! in 2022 about the series 11 departure, she said:
"I felt that I did everything I could with Florence."
She'd spent seven years on the show at that point and framed it as a choice between staying comfortable and moving on.
Is she coming back again?
She says no — including to a spin-off. Asked directly about reprising the role, Jobert told Digital Spy in 2024 that she could "safely say no", noting she had already left and returned several times and had finally been able to say goodbye to the character. Asked separately whether she missed filming it, her answer was that she didn't, particularly.
What she's doing instead
Jobert now stars in Saint-Pierre as Deputy Chief Geneviève 'Arch' Archambault, a Paris detective posted to Saint-Pierre et Miquelon, the French territory off Newfoundland — another island, different weather. She has also been cast as Mathilde in Concordia, a drama set in a city run by AI surveillance.