GLOW: Vegas-Based Season 3 Gets Trailer

The Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling are going to Sin City.

Netflix has released the trailer for season three of its hit series GLOW, and it promises more of the show's signature blend of laughs with human drama, filtered through the glitzy neon... er, glow of its new Las Vegas setting. The spot was released to Netflix's YouTube channel this morning (and be warned: it is NSFW.)

When last we saw Ruth "Zoya the Destroya" Wilder (Alison Brie), Debbie "Liberty Belle" Eagan (Betty Gilpin), and the rest of the crew, they were hopping on a bus to the Nevada desert after manager Sam Sylvia (Marc Maron) accepted an offer to stage their show on the Vegas Strip after it got the plug pulled by their network sponsor. The trailer picks up with an announcer at the Fan-Tan Hotel and Casino introducing the new arrivals, followed by a sequence of the ladies adjusting to their new surroundings by doing exactly what you would expect: drinking and gambling.

The Vegas crowd seems to take quickly the act ("business is good... we've sold out the next two weeks," the narration informs us), and we're quickly introduced to the series' new recurring character: Sandy Devereaux St. Clair (Geena Davis), the Fan-Tan's entertainment director, who is not exactly discouraging of the ladies' aforementioned drinking and gambling. We get plenty of hints of the drama to come in the new season, as well. Debbie is still smarting over her separation from her son, and Ruth can't shake a nagging feeling that her recent good luck is about to come crashing down (perhaps literally, as we see a nice gag involving a wire stunt that doesn't quite come off properly). 

Even as St. Clair asserts her intention to extend GLOW's run through the year's end, the ladies find their relationships — both personal and professional — becoming increasingly more complicated. There are some interesting hookups, some empowering moments of togetherness, and (because this is still a comedy, after all) Sam nearly losing his mind while stuck in an elevator with a dozen women.

The show's cast and crew have promised a slightly seedier feel to this season, which is entirely appropriate to its setting of Vegas in 1986. In a conversation with Entertainment Weekly, Brie said, "This season feels unlike anything we've shot before, and we really embrace all the things that are Vegas, you know? Kind of the danger, the excitement, the sex, the raciness. I think there's a lot of debauchery in season three."

GLOW has always been a series with a big, beating heart, however, and Brie teased that a deepening of the relationship between Rachel and Debbie will be among the third season's developments. "We get to have some fun together, which is nice," she said. "I feel like we've seen very few scenes of Ruth and Debbie enjoying one another's company."

While we only got a few brief glimpses of the series' new addition in the trailer, co-creator Liz Flahive made sure to gush to EW over Geena Davis, whose casting she called "a shot in the arm for all of us." Of course, the Oscar winner turned in much of her most memorable work during the decade in which GLOW is set, which Flahive says resulted in an odd feeling of time displacement. "You put that woman in like '80s hair, makeup, and wardrobe," she said, "[and] it was just like, 'holy moly, we're here.'"

GLOW has become a critical darling and an audience obsession over its first two seasons, and its third outing looks to be stepping on the gas with even more of the heart and humor we've come to love. Here's the official synopsis (via Collider): "Season three follows the ladies of GLOW as they take the Vegas strip by storm. Now headliners at the Fan-Tan Hotel and Casino, the women quickly realize Sin City is much more grind than glitter. Ever the team cheerleader, Ruth's passion for the show begins to take a backseat to her growingly complicated personal life. Debbie is making headway as a producer, but continues to be consumed with guilt over the distance between her and her son. As their residency wears on, the lines blur between performance and reality, and the cast find themselves struggling with their own identities both in and outside of the ring."

This spot should have fans champing at the bit for the new batch of episodes, and fortunately, they don't have too long to wait: season three debuts on Netflix on August 9.