Is Atlanta, Donald Glover’s near-unanimously praised TV opus, still on track for an early 2022 return?
During FX’s TCA presentation on Friday, Rosy Cordero reported for Deadline, network chairman John Landgraf gave attendees an update on the progress Glover and his team have made on the third and fourth seasons. According to Landgraf, an early 2022 return is still the aim. Post-production for those episodes, however, is currently underway and will indeed be a “lengthy” endeavor due to scheduling.
“We haven’t locked down the scheduling for Season 3 yet as it just finished shooting—it’s shot primarily in Europe,” Landgraf said. “It’s in post-production and it’s a lengthy post-production process and part of that is because they’re currently in production of Season 4 in Atlanta. All the scripts for that season have been written and I absolutely adore the scripts for both seasons.”
Going deeper on why he’s not in a position at the moment to pinpoint a firm premiere date, Landgraf noted the process is complicated somewhat by the fact that post-production on Season 3 is running simultaneously with shooting for Season 4.
“I did list it as one of the things coming back in the first half of 2022, that is our anticipation,” he said. “I think we’ll be able to lock down an actual date for [Season] 3 and maybe for both cycles within the next couple of months.”
Atlanta stars Glover as Earn, a Princeton dropout who takes to managing the growing music career of his cousin Alfred Miles, a.k.a. Paper Boi. The Season 2 finale aired in May 2018 (!!!) and saw Earn and Paper Boi bonding over a last-minute decision from the former ahead of a European tour that could have major ramifications moving forward.
Glover is joined in the cast by Brian Tyree Henry as Paper Boi, LaKeith Stanfield as Darius, and Zazie Beetz as Van. Thus far, the bulk of Atlanta episodes have been directed by Hiro Murai, who’s also worked extensively with Glover in the Childish Gambino music video realm. Other Murai-directed videos include Lupe Fiasco’s “The Show Must Go On,” St. Vincent’s “Cheerleader,” A Tribe Called Quest’s “Dis Generation,” and FKA twigs’ “Sad Day.”
Last November, Glover—soon set to star alongside Fleabag’s Phoebe Waller-Bridge in a Mr. & Mrs. Smith reboot for Amazon—made a rare Twitter appearance to compare the forthcoming pair of new Atlanta seasons to what is widely regarded as one of the most creatively accomplished series of all time, The Sopranos.
“[Seasons 3 and 4] are going to be some of the best televise ever made,” Glover said. “Sopranos only ones who can touch us.”
