When does Fortnite Chapter 3 Season 1 end, and when does Season 2 start?

Will there be a Fortnite live event to bridge the gap between the two seasons? Will there be any major surprises to mark the start of Fortnite Season 2? Will Fortnite be offline for an extended period of server downtime?

Right now, Epic Games is keeping its cards close its chest, but you can read on for all the key details and a healthy side portion of speculation.

When does Fortnite Chapter 3 Season 1 end?

Fortnite Chapter 3 Season 1 will end on Saturday 19th March 2022, with the developers from Epic Games confirming that Fortnite Season 1 end date on the game's official website.

Look in the top right-hand corner of the webpage we just linked to, and you'll see that Epic Games has said outright that the current battle pass will end on that date.

The exact Fortnite Chapter 3 Season 1 end time has not been announced for the UK time zone or any other, so don't be surprised if you suddenly get kicked out of the game at any point over the weekend!

Season 1 of the current iteration of Fortnite has already given us Victory Crowns, Spider-Man skins and a flipped map, as well as Boba Fett skins and The Rock skins, so Fortnite Chapter 3 Season 2 will have a tough job of trying to top that!

• Read more: Is Fortnite down? How to check the server status

When does Fortnite Chapter 3 Season 2 start?

The Fortnite Chapter 3 Season 2 start date will probably fall on Saturday 19th March 2022 or shortly afterwards - although Epic Games has not confirmed that date publicly, it's always wise to expect the new season to start within a few hours of the previous one.

Given that this is a new season (rather than a whole new chapter), the game will probably only be down for a couple of hours, as opposed to whole day, but we'll let you know when the timings are confirmed.

Read more:

• Doctor Who joins Fortnite with special Creative mode maps
• The best Fortnite merch and gifts to buy
• The sweatiest Fortnite skins to wear

Is there a Fortnite live event this weekend?

As things stand (we're writing this paragraph at Friday lunchtime), Epic Game has not announced a Fortnite live event for this weekend, despite the fact that Fortnite Chapter 3 Season 1's battle pass is slated to end on Saturday.

If you don't want to miss anything over the weekend, it's worth keeping an eye on the official Fortnite Twitter account and the news section on the Fortnite website — if Epic does spring a last-minute live event on us, that's where you're likely to hear about it.

Will there be Fortnite downtime this weekend?

It seems incredibly likely that there will be Fortnite downtime this weekend, with the servers potentially going offline in order for Epic Games to add in the new content for Fortnite Chapter 3 Season 2.

If you're reading this over the weekend and you're wondering if Fortnite is down for scheduled maintenance, there are two places you should check: the Fortnite Status Twitter account is where the developers tend to post about planned outages, and the user-generated Down Detector website is where players tend to log their own connectivity issues.

If you can't get into Fortnite at any point this weekend, we'd advise you to check those two links in the previous paragraph to see what the current situation is. It wouldn't be unheard of for the game to go offline for two or three hours between seasons, so don't panic!

What will be in the Fortnite Chapter 3 Season 2 battle pass patch notes?

The marketing team from Epic Games has not yet announced any firm facts about Fortnite Season 2, but you can probably expect some changes to the island, a new battle pass and a batch of new skins to collect.

Rumours seem to point towards lots of new Star Wars content, and perhaps another Marvel fest, but we'll let you know when specific details about the new season are revealed by an official source. Hopefully, on the other side of the weekend, we'll have some patch notes to share.

Assuming that Fortnite continues its trend of tying in with major pop-culture events, it's worth noting that Disney will be launching Obi-Wan Kenobi, Moon Knight and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness in the window of time that Fortnite Chapter 3 Season 2 will occupy — so don't act surprised if any of those characters appear on the island!

As and when some details are confirmed about Fortnite Chapter 3 Season 2, we'll be sure to update this page with all of the essential information. Watch this space, folks!

Discover more with Fortnite creative map codes: Fortnite horror maps | Fortnite action-adventure maps | Fortnite hide and seek maps | Fortnite Zone Wars maps | Fortnite fighting maps | Fortnite parkour maps | best Fortnite creative maps | Fortnite Squid Game map codes | Fortnite Monopoly code | Fortnite I'm A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here code

Follow Radio Times Gaming on Twitter for all the latest insights. Or if you're looking for something to watch, see our TV Guide.

Visit our video game release schedule for all upcoming games on consoles. Swing by our hubs for more Gaming and Technology news.

The latest issue of Radio Times is on sale now – subscribe now to get each issue delivered to your door. For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to the Radio Times podcast with Jane Garvey.