Not even a duo of Hollywood strikes can knock The Bear off track.
At the Television Critics Association’s (TCA) Winter 2023 press tour on Friday, FX chairman John Landgraf announced that The Bear returns for season 3 in June. For reference, season 1 arrived on June 23, 2022, while season 2 premiered on June 22, 2023. It’s rare for any streaming show to stick to such a strict annual schedule nowadays.
Landgraf was not able to share any additional details about this season, which will presumably pick up right after the chaotic events of the season 2 finale. He was also asked if he could reveal whether there would be as many surprise guest stars this season as there were last season, and he offered a playful non-answer (via Variety): “Unfortunately, I can’t. I was surprised as you were when the Christmas episode came through the door.”
While The Bear is an FX production, both seasons of the show have been released exclusively on Hulu. As for The Bear season 3, Landgraf said he has “no doubt” that Hulu will drop all of the episodes at once this June as it has for previous seasons.
In my effusive review of the second season last June, I said that The Bear is “more suspenseful, dramatic, and upsetting than the average sitcom, but the titular restaurant — the creation of which the second season revolves around — is as material to the audience as Dunder Mifflin, Cheers, or Central Perk ever were.”
I also wrote about how excited I am for a third season now that the show has proven it has legs beyond the breathtaking, hair-raising, stress-inducing cacophony of the first season. Hopefully we’ll get an exact release date for season 3 soon.
