Music lovers are bound to be fans of the comedy-drama series Atlanta. Created by Donald Glover, the series first aired in 2016 and follows college dropout, but also music manager, Earnest “Earn” Marks, as well as rapper Paper Boi, as they find their way through the strange and competitive rap scene in Atlanta, with running themes surrounding racism, existentialism, and modern Black culture - even including inspiration from real world tales of white privilage.

Throughout the series, we follow Earn who is trying to win back his ex-girlfriend and mother of their daughter, Van, as well as trying to redeem himself to his cousin Alfred, otherwise known as Paper Boi. As he dropped out of University and has no money, Earn’s world seems quite bleak, although when he realizes Alfred’s talent and likely trajectory towards fame, he attempts to reconnect and prove himself a worthy music manager, in order to better his life for the sake of his daughter.

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The Return To Atlanta

     20th Television

After three seasons of Atlanta and watching Earn grow, it has been announced just months after the third season’s release that the fourth and final season is just around the corner, coming this fall. Season three, after an interminably long four-year break, showed us Earn, Paper Boi, Darius, and Van’s European travels and adventures.

Although, the series still made sure to include its running themes, asking the audience daring and confrontational questions around race, class, and inequality. These imperative questions (often through stand-alone episodes) are incredibly prevalent to today’s society, and the way Atlanta weaves them into its comedic and surreal elements is impressive. Despite season three being set outside of Atlanta, it goes to show that such inequality can occur worldwide, and is a wake-up call for us as a society and a community.

However, fans will be pleased to know that the group is set to return to Atlanta once more in season four, but what will it be like after all this time away? There are many questions that we were left with at the end of season three, particularly surrounding Van. Fans will of course remember that she wasn’t quite herself in the previous season, suffering with mental health issues. So, we are eager to finally find out how she is coping and hopefully recovered, and explore how the relationship between Van and Earn has potentially been developed.

Glover’s work on the show (creating it, starring in it, producing, writing, and directing episodes of it) is incredible, and the way he brings Earn to life was a major aspect to the show that fans loved, and we are eager to see how he has developed and progresses in season four. In fact, his portrayal of Earn was an Emmy-winning performance for Glover, as he gained an Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actor in a comedy series in 2017 and a nomination for the same award earlier this year.

What’s In Store For Atlanta Season Four

Viewers are hopeful that season four will be a gentle close to what is a funny yet extremely meaningful series, and we are all hoping that it will end on a high after three seasons of struggle. Glover even said in an interview with Variety that the idea for season four was to “have more fun.” It was also mentioned that although they are keeping the storyline to season four quite under wraps, it has been addressed that we are to expect something a little different, especially after the pandemic:

“There’s some stuff that we changed in Season 4, because I think we all changed. We all got older and just went through our life. I think COVID was a very reflective time. So all of us kind of grew up.”

Perhaps this season is going to be mature, grounded, and maybe even a little more serious. After three seasons of crazy journeys and ups and downs, we feel as though we have been on this journey with them. We have laughed, cried, and even felt inspired by the story and especially the themes that come along with it; now, it is time to end their incredible journey and come back home. It leaves the audience thinking about the idea of ‘home’ and ‘success’ and what exactly these mean.

Home doesn’t always necessarily mean a place, it can mean our relationships with people (which could refer to Earn and Van), as well as community, society, and how that makes us feel. Glover added to this thought by saying, “We’re right now living in a time when you don’t give people the benefit of the doubt, so I felt like this was a good time to explore that a little bit more.” This is definitely something that viewers are looking forward to being explored in this season.

While it has been confirmed that this will definitely be the end to the show, Glover wasn’t completely opposed to there being a future for Atlanta and did hint that if there was ever a reason to revisit Atlanta, he was going to keep his options open. Nonetheless, to paraphrase Humphrey Bogart in Casablanca, “We’ll always have Atlanta.”