The hunt for a missing girl reaches its dramatic end next week. Down Cemetery Road, the Apple TV mystery series starring Emma Thompson and Ruth Wilson, concludes its first season with one final episode. The show’s seventh chapter left the main characters scattered and in grave danger, making the upcoming finale a must-watch for fans.
The final episode, titled “What Will Survive,” is set to be released on Wednesday, December 10, 2025. It will be available to stream exclusively on Apple TV+. New episodes of the show typically appear on the service at 12 AM Eastern Time (ET). For viewers in other time zones, this translates to 9 PM PT on Tuesday night or 5 AM GMT on Wednesday morning.
Where to Watch Down Cemetery Road Episode 8
You will need an Apple TV+ subscription to watch the Down Cemetery Road finale. The streaming service is available for $12.99 per month in the United States. Apple TV+ offers a seven-day free trial for new subscribers. The platform is also available through the Apple One subscription bundle or as an add-on via Amazon Prime Video Channels.
All previous episodes of the series are currently available to stream on Apple TV+. This allows viewers to catch up on the complex conspiracy before the finale arrives.
A Recap of the Story and Episode 7
The series began on October 29, 2025, with a double-episode premiere. It follows Sarah Trafford (Ruth Wilson), a woman whose quiet Oxford life is shattered when a neighbor’s house explodes and a young girl, Dinah, disappears in the chaos. Convinced the official story is a lie, Sarah teams up with private investigator Zoë Boehm (Emma Thompson). Their search uncovers a deep government conspiracy involving military experiments, faked deaths, and a dangerous operative named Amos Crane (Fehinti Balogun).
The penultimate episode, “Lights Go Out,” ended with a major cliffhanger. Sarah and Dinah managed to escape in a speedboat after a tense confrontation with Amos on a remote island. Zoë’s fate, however, is left completely unknown after she was caught in a landmine explosion while trying to create a distraction. The operative Downey (Nathan Stewart-Jarrett), who had been trying to protect Dinah, was killed by Amos. With multiple characters’ lives hanging in the balance, the finale has plenty of questions to answer.
What to Expect in the Season Finale
The official synopsis for Episode 8 states simply: “Season finale. Everything Sarah has fought for hangs in balance”. The episode will immediately continue from the explosive events on the island. The central mystery of what happened to Dinah and why she was targeted is expected to be fully revealed, including the truth behind the military experiments and the role of the government official known as C (Darren Boyd).
The biggest question for viewers is the fate of Emma Thompson’s character, Zoë. Whether she survived the blast is a major point of tension heading into the finale. Her character holds information that could expose the conspiracy and threaten powerful people. The final confrontation between Sarah, Dinah, and the relentless Amos also seems inevitable.
The Main Cast of Down Cemetery Road
The series features a celebrated British cast led by two acclaimed actresses. Emma Thompson plays the tenacious private detective Zoë Boehm, while Ruth Wilson plays the ordinary neighbor turned investigator, Sarah Trafford. In an interview, Wilson highlighted what makes the show unique, saying:
“She’s a person like you and me, so there’s something really fascinating and relatable about her – a twist on what we usually see on TV. They’re two amazing, eccentric female leads. It’s really rare, unique and funny.”
The supporting cast includes Adeel Akhtar as the government agent Hamza, Fehinti Balogun as the threatening operative Amos, and Darren Boyd as the senior official C. Ivy Quoi plays the missing girl, Dinah Singleton.
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Series Background and Connection to Slow Horses
Down Cemetery Road is based on the 2003 novel by Mick Herron. The television adaptation was written by Morwenna Banks, who also serves as an executive producer. The series is produced by 60Forty Films, the same team behind the popular Apple TV+ spy series Slow Horses, which is also based on Herron’s books.
This creative overlap is intentional. Mick Herron himself confirmed the connection, noting, “There’s quite a lot of overlap in the teams that made Slow Horses and Down Cemetery Road”. This has attracted fans who enjoy the dry humor and complex plotting of Herron’s world.
The first season consists of eight episodes in total. It is currently unknown if Apple TV+ will renew the show for a second season.
Credits: IMDb
