Season 3 of Atlanta premiered in May 2022 after significant delays beginning in 2018 when the season was first ordered. Initially airing on FX in 2016, the show garnered critical acclaim in its first season, with The Guardian calling it Donald Glover’s “smartest and funniest” show on TV. When its second season aired in 2018, it continued its success, earning an astounding 16 Emmy nominations that year. Fans of the series were left in anticipation for when they might get their next fix of the hit series.
Atlanta is written by brothers Donald and Stephen Glover. The former, in fact, stars in the show and serves as a producer. Considered one of the best TV shows on FX, fans were relieved when the third season was finally released. Of course, the four-year gap between seasons two and three is significant, which begs the question: why the long wait?
MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY
COVID Caused Huge Delays
FX
The third season of Atlanta was initially ordered back in 2018 after the season 2 finale aired, and we saw Earn gaining Al’s respect after spending the entire season flirting with being fired. We see a tense sequence at the airport where Earn realizes he has a gun in his carry-on, and we see Clark’s manager take the fall, leaving Earn as the sole manager.
Fresh of their success of season 2, Atlanta’s production team was keen to quickly move on with the next season. However, shortly after production began on the third season, the show was forced to shut down entirely in the spring of 2020, as a result of the pandemic, which would have made the originally-planned January 2021 release date unachievable. Glover revealed that the pandemic gave him the opportunity to write the third and fourth seasons of the show, however, production was still scheduled to be delayed for another year as filming was unable to resume.
The third season of Atlanta was filmed in Europe, which made production even more difficult as COVID restrictions were regularly changing and being updated, meaning the cast had to follow along with unpredictable protocols. The third season would pick up where the second left off, and for continuity purposes, location had to be correct, which meant shooting was delayed due to COVID-related circumstances.
The Stars Have Been Busy With Other Projects
20th Television
One of the most appealing parts of Atlanta is the incredibly talented cast. The main cast includes Glover as Earn Marks, a Princeton dropout turned manager, trying to get his cousin Paper Boi’s rap career off the ground, Brian Tyree Henry as Paper Boi, Lakeith Stanfield as Darius, and Zazie Beetz as Vanessa. They are all wildly talented and are a central aspect to the show’s success. Being widely sought-after, their schedules are very full and other projects quickly lined up for them amidst the initial season three hiatus, which only further delayed the project.
Beetz, in particular, gained a role in Joker and Henry in Godzilla vs. Kong. Glover was also releasing his second album, while writing and producing the musical film Guava Island and voicing Simba in the Jon Favreau-directed movie remake of The Lion King. Understandably, production on Atlanta season three took a further back seat due to these projects.
Producers Didn’t Want Season 3 to Feel Rushed
With all the delays that were faced during the production of the third season, it would be easy for the team to feel a need to rush the project. However, it was important for Atlanta’s highly anticipated new season to not feel forced, and for the writing, visuals and locations to be correct. Though the delay did feel like momentum had slowed and hype had died down, especially after coming from such a peak in season two, season three of Atlanta proved to be just as successful as the previous seasons, earning at 97% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Audiences did have to wait a long time to return to Earn’s world, but, once they did, it truly felt like no time had passed.
