For those of us who love a good spy drama, the Apple TV+ series Tehran is simply one of the best that any of the major streamers has given us in recent years.
Built largely around a Mossad hacker operating from inside Iran’s capital city, this hit Apple drama is jam-packed with suspense, tight action scenes, and well-written storylines that keep you hooked from start to finish. Moreover, the show ratcheted up its quality big time from Season 1 to Season 2, which added Glenn Close to the cast and confined the main character exclusively to Tehran as she looked for a way to sneak back home.
There’s no reason to think that Tehran Season 3, which added Hugh Laurie as a nuclear plant supervisor, will flag at all in terms of its quality and storytelling. However, it doesn’t look like Season 3 will be coming to Apple devices anytime soon, according to a new report — and the reason why shouldn’t really be a surprise.
The new season is actually ready to go. However, according to the Israeli news website Ynet, Apple has forbidden Israeli public broadcaster Kan from airing it due to the ongoing war in Gaza. Not only that, but Apple appears to have also halted production on a fourth season of the show for the same reason.
And it’s not simply because of the mere existence of the conflict in Gaza, either. Tensions in the region are as fraught as they’ve been in years — which is why, when you stop to consider that Season 1 of Tehran saw Israeli forces attempt to bomb an Iranian nuclear facility, you understand the implications of Ynet’s sources saying that the new season’s plot closely mirrors real-world events. Apple, for now, is waiting to see how things unfold before deciding when to bring Tehran back to Apple TV+ — and, by extension, when Apple will allow the series to be broadcast in Israel.
According to Ynet, its sources share that Apple believes “the outbreak of a regional war would render the storyline of Israeli intelligence agents versus Iran irrelevant.”
For now, there are two seasons of Tehran available to binge on Apple TV+. And, again, speaking as someone who watches a ton of spy and espionage thrillers, the show is one of the best originals Apple has released to date — thanks, in no small part, to the cast led by the fantastic Niv Sultan, who plays Mossad agent Tamar Rabinyan.
