Get ready to return to the stress of the kitchen, people!
Off the back of dominating the 2024 Emmy’s with a staggering eight wins, it’s safe to say that fans of The Bear are waiting patiently for news about the future third season.
While we know it’s happening – the news was confirmed back in November – there’s not yet been a confirmed release date for the new season. However, we do know that production is set to kick off very soon, so we’d say to take this time to begin to prepare for the stress that’ll likely come in a new season of the kitchen-based drama.
More recently, we’ve gotten snippets of information on the new season as provided by the cast, who have all been revelling in recent major award wins, including at the Golden Globes, where the show was nominated for five accolades and took home three.
Announcing The Bear’s renewal back in November 2023, FX Entertainment president Nick Grad said: “We’re so proud to partner with Christopher Storer, Joanna Calo, Josh Senior, and the rest of the creative team, as well as the brilliant cast led by Jeremy Allen White, Ayo Edebiri and Ebon Moss-Bachrach.
“What they and the crew have done is truly remarkable, and we and our partners at Hulu and Disney+ join fans in looking forward to the next chapter in the story of The Bear.”
With that, read on for everything we know so far about The Bear season 3 – but be warned as there are major spoilers ahead.
The Bear season 3 release date speculation
As of now, there’s no confirmed release date for The Bear season 3. But, according to Deadline, the new series is set to commence production in late February or early March this year.
As previous seasons have followed a similar release pattern of being released in June 2022 and then in the same month in 2023, it’s likely we could be looking at the same for season 3. The show has become known for its quick turnaround from production through to release, but it remains to be confirmed whether we can anticipate new episodes as early as summer 2024.
Season 2 was available to stream in full on Disney Plus from 19th July 2023, which was just under a month after it debuted in the US on 22nd June, so we could expect a similar (slight) simultaneous release with season 3 too.
As for how many episodes we can anticipate, season 1 consisted of eight episodes while season 2 boasted 10, so it also remains unknown whether we could be getting similar.
The Bear season 3 cast speculation
Across its two seasons, The Bear has become synonymous with Carmy (Jeremy Allen White) and Sydney (Ayo Edebiri) so it’s safe to say that there would be major uproar if the series leads weren’t returning for more. We can anticipate that both White and Edebiri will reprise their roles, along with Ebon Moss-Bachrach as Richie, who undertook some serious character development in season 2.
We’d expect the rest of the gang to make a return for season 3, especially as the last we saw of the team was all of them bandying together to make sure the opening of The Bear went off without a hitch. We’d expect to see Lionel Boyce return as pastry chef Marcus, Abbey Elliott as Carmy’s sister and The Bear manager Natalie (aka Sugar), Liza Colón-Zayas as keen learner Tina and real-life chef Matty Matheson as Neil Fak.
After that season 2 ending, it remains completely uncertain whether Carmy will be able to rekindle things with Claire (Molly Gordon), but it could be likely we’ll be seeing a return of his romantic interest.
The second season was positively star-studded, with the Fishes episode boasting the likes of Sarah Paulson as cousin Michelle, John Mulaney as her partner Stevie, Jamie Lee Curtis as matriarch Donna Berzatt and Bob Odenkirk as Uncle Lee.
As if that wasn’t enough, Olivia Colman made a surprise appearance in Forks as Chef Terry as well as Will Poulter starring as top Copenhagen chef Luca. So, could we see any of these faces return?
Well, according to White (via Deadline), the actor would love to see a season 3 episode where “we can get as many [guest stars] to come back for one day,” a la “Fishes.” White also told Deadline that he’d love to see Colman’s Chef Terry come back and also would love to see Curtis return as Momma Donna.
The cast we’d expect to make a return for The Bear season 3 are as follows:
- Jeremy Allen White as Carmen ‘Carmy’ Berzatto
- Ebon Moss-Bachrach as Richard ‘Richie’ Jerimovich
- Ayo Edebiri as Sydney Adamu
- Lionel Boyce as Marcus
- Liza Colón-Zayas as Tina
- Abby Elliott as Natalie ‘Sugar’ Berzatto
- Edwin Lee Gibson as Ebraheim
- Matty Matheson as Neil Fak
- Oliver Platt as Jimmy Cicero
- Molly Gordon as Claire
What could The Bear season 3 be about?
The final episode of The Bear season 2 saw the opening of the titular restaurant go off with one major hitch, namely with Carmy being locked in the fridge and while in there, admitting that he doesn’t need to be in a relationship, saying that he’s “the best” without any of the distraction.
But he shouts about this to Tina, who doesn’t respond and instead, it’s Claire – who has left Carmy a voicemail professing her love for him – who tearfully walks out of the restaurant.
As for where this’ll leave the pair, White admitted to Deadline after his Golden Globes win: “I truly have no idea, but as Jeremy, a reader of scripts and watcher of show, I think she deserve an apology at the very least. So I hope there’s some version of that when I read scripts again.”
As for the kitchen scenes of season 3, we can expect more of a “functioning kitchen atmosphere”, like the tense first outing of the series. White told Variety: “I’ll tell you the truth, which is I think they’ve written a couple scripts. I have not read any. I do know in January I’m going to spend a fair amount of time getting together with some chefs. There’ll be a menu set, I believe, that’s going to be for the restaurant in the third season.
“And I know that I’m going to start putting together that menu with different chefs and cooking and just trying to get prepared to do more of that stuff on camera. We all did a lot of preparation before the first season. I went to culinary school and I spent a lot of time in restaurants and stuff.
“And then, for the second season, so much of it was about putting the restaurant together, so there wasn’t that much cooking. But now, in the third season, I think we’re going to go back to that functioning kitchen atmosphere that we had in the first.”
That season 2 finale also saw Syd and Marcus navigating some serious awkwardness after Marcus tried asking Syd out earlier on that fateful day, but things took a sad turn at the end of the episode, as we see that Marcus has missed a slew of calls from his sick mother’s nurse, likely meaning she could have died, and the impact of such an event will surely have major repercussions on his character in the new series.
While things seem to have been patched up for Marcus and Syd, the finale also saw a major turning point for Syd, as she led the kitchen in Carmy’s absence and won the approval of her doubtful father, played by Robert Townsend. Speaking about her character’s season 3 future, Edebiri said: “I love the idea of Sydney finding more confidence and belief in herself, but it’s also fun getting to play someone who’s flawed and kind of a mess.”
As of now, there’s been no word on whether Curtis will return as Carmy and Sugar’s mother Donna, but after skipping the family and friends opening night at the restaurant over the fear of ruining it, it seems as though there’s plenty to be reconciled there.
She also unknowingly learnt of her daughter’s pregnancy, which she hadn’t been told about, so we would think – depending on where season 3 picks up – that Sugar’s pregnancy plays somewhat of a part in the restaurant plans in season 3.
Is there a trailer for The Bear season 3?
Not yet! As the new season is yet to go into production, we can expect more season 3 updates to come as well as a trailer in due course. We’ll be sure to keep this article updated when one does drop.
The Bear seasons 1 and 2 are available to stream in the UK on Disney Plus – sign up to Disney Plus for £7.99 a month or £79.90 a year now.
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