Will there be a This Way Up season 3? Latest on Aisling Bea comedy
Irish comedian Aisling Bea created and stars in Channel 4 and Hulu series This Way Up. **WARNING: SPOILERS**
Aisling Bea's comedy-drama series This Way Up returned to Channel 4 this month, following Bea's character Aine as she continues to recover from a "teeny" breakdown, assisted by sister Shona (Sharon Horgan).
There's since been a time jump in This Way Up, meaning season two skipped ahead to the beginning of Aine's secret relationship with her employer, single dad Richard (played by The Crown star Tobias Menzies).
Set pre-lockdown, season two ended on a cliffhanger, following (spoiler alert!) an accidental voice note Shona sent to her fiancé, in which she inadvertently confessed to having had an affair with her business partner, Charlotte.
Asked if there's the possibility of a third season, Menzies recently said that he would “love to do more” of This Way Up, but added, “I do think that it costs Aisling to write it. You know, there’s something very personal about the work."
Speaking exclusively to RadioTimes.com, he continued, "She’s digging, I think, quite deeply into her own experiences and her own life to get that high level of authenticity, out of which she can spin something that’s at times very moving and very funny. And yeah, that’s just hard to do.
“But maybe [if] she goes and lies in the darkened room for a bit. Yeah, she’s got another one in her – here’s hoping," he added. (Read our exclusive This Way Up interview with Tobias Menzies here.)
Here's everything you need to know about This Way Up season three.
Will there be a This Way Up season 3?
This Way Up has yet to be renewed for a third season, so we'll keep this page updated with any news.
The series would be released on Hulu in the US, and on Channel 4 and All4 in the UK.
This Way Up season two premiered on Wednesday 14th July at 10pm on Channel 4, with all episodes being made available to watch on All 4 immediately afterwards.
Who could return for a potential This Way Up season 3?
The Channel 4 series hasn't yet been renewed but the This Way Up cast for season two included Irish comedian Aisling Bea reprising her role as Aine, an English-as-a-foreign language (TEFL) teacher attempting to recover after a nervous breakdown.
BAFTA-winning Catastrophe writer and star Sharon Horgan played Aine's successful sister, Shona, while Tobias Menzies (The Crown, The Terror) played Richard, Aine's employer and love interest.
Meanwhile, Indira Varma (best known as Ellaria Sand in Game of Thrones) played Charlotte, and Aasif Mandvi (The Daily Show, Halal in the Family) played Shona’s partner Vish.
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What could happen in a potential third season of This Way Up?
At the beginning of the second season, we follow Aine as she's "starting to leave her time in rehab behind and live less cautiously, which may not be entirely wise" as the official synopsis released by the show's US streamer Hulu put it.
Speaking to RadioTimes.com ahead of season two, Tobias Menzies said, "What I really like about Aisling's writing [is] there's lots of really complicated interesting women in it, but that doesn't stop there. The male characters also have a life going on and you're taking on a subject like how emotions affect men's sexuality... It's something that is not selling, not being dramatised that much.
"So, in that regard, the second season is continuing where the first left off, which is – in a really smart, funny way – addressing quite deep, emotional subjects."
If it's commissioned, the third season would, we imagine, follow suit,, though it remains to be seen whether or not there'll be a significant time jump between the second season and the third, as there was between the first and the second.
However, we'll no doubt see the fall-out from the voice note Shona accidentally sent to Vish rather than business partner Charlotte, thus accidentally confessing to an affair with the latter.
Meanwhile, how will things progress between Aine and Richard, now that he has told his son Etienne (and Aine's pupil) about their secret relationship? And with the COVID-19 lockdown looming by the end of season two, will Aine quarantine with roommate Bradley (who now seems to have a crush on her) or Richard?
If season three is set over lockdown, we might also follow Aine as she's forced to sit with her thoughts and her grief, away from her understanding support group and isolated from sister and best friend Shona.
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