Master Of None Season 3 - What We Know So Far
It's been almost four years since Master of None season 2 was released on Netflix, and fans of Aziz Ansari and Alan Yang's painterly dramedy had mostly given up hope that it would ever return. Ansari — who writes, directs, executive produces, and stars as semi-famous actor Dev Shah on the semi-autobiographical show — made it clear after season 2 that he had no plans at the time to jump back into another season anytime soon, but he also didn't rule it out. "I need to live my life a little bit, maybe get in a serious relationship, have a kid, something, and then maybe figure it out," he told Vulture in 2017, shortly after season 2 premiered.
Then, life happened in a big way for Ansari, who was accused of sexual misconduct during the #MeToo wave of late 2017-early 2018. He grappled with the fallout from the Babe article, in which he was described as pressuring a woman into a sexual encounter she was uncomfortable with, in his 2019 Netflix stand-up special Right Now. The company stood by him, with Netflix's then-content VP Cindy Holland saying in 2018 that "We would be happy to make another season of Master of None when Aziz is ready."
Now, Aziz is reportedly ready. British comedy news website Chortle reports that a third season of the Emmy-winning show is in the works. Though we've yet to receive any confirmation from Netflix, here's what we know so far about Master of None's return.
What's the premiere date for Master of None season 3?
Chortle reports that season 3 of Master of None will be filmed and set in London. As production on the new episodes hasn't officially been confirmed yet, it's naturally difficult to pin down a timeframe regarding when we could expect their release. Further complicating the question, of course, is the continuing uncertainty surrounding COVID-related shutdowns. The show is based so heavily on social situations and public settings like bars and restaurants that it's hard to imagine any version of Master of None, no matter how much it's re-formatted, being easy to produce under safety restrictions. And with London recently being declared "at a crisis point" in the midst of a pandemic resurgence, the rumored setting isn't going to do the production any favors.
As the Chortle article reports, Ansari has hinted that he's been keeping himself busy with writing while under lockdown, so it's possible that he and Yang have been laying plenty of pre-production groundwork over the past year. If shooting can commence within the first half of 2021, we could see Master of None season 3 hit Netflix sometime early in 2022. Still, we'll have to wait for official confirmation from the streamer before we can be sure of anything.
Who will be in the Master of None season 3 cast?
Aziz Ansari will, of course, return as Dev, and Chortle reports that BAFTA-winning actress Naomi Ackie (The End of the F***ing World, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker) is set to join the cast as well.
Lena Waithe will reportedly return for season 3, once again playing Dev's friend Denise. Waithe shared an Emmy win with Ansari in 2017 for writing the season 2 episode "Thanksgiving," making her the first Black woman to win an Emmy for comedy writing. The episode followed Dev and Denise over the course of several Thanksgivings from childhood to adulthood, with Denise gradually coming out as a lesbian — something her mother Catherine (Angela Bassett) struggles with but eventually comes to accept. Since then, Waithe has become one of Hollywood's most prolific and influential producers, leading the charge for better representation of queer people and people of color onscreen.
There's no word yet on whether other cast members, such as Eric Wareheim and Kelvin Yu, who play Dev's friends Arnold and Brian, respectively, will return. Nor is there any word about if Noël Wells and Alessandra Mastronardi, Dev's season 1 and season 2 girlfriends, will be back. Of course, a relocation to London would make it very easy to explain the absence of any cast members not on board.
What will Master of None season 3 be about?
Heavy.com reported last spring that Ansari appeared to be quarantining in London with his girlfriend, Danish physicist Serena Skov Campbell. Living in a different country with a new partner seems like exactly the kind of different life experience Ansari said he needed to have before starting on season 3, so Chortle might be right on the money in reporting that the show is U.K.-based now.
There's an international precedent for Master of None as well. In season 2, Dev went to Italy on a pasta-making adventure, where he met Francesca (Alessandra Mastronardi), who became his love interest for that season. The Italian storyline was inspired by Ansari's own experiences living in Italy and working in restaurants between the first and second seasons of Master of None. While everything we know about season 3 is officially unconfirmed, a stretch of episodes based on stories from Aziz Ansari's recent life in London seems pretty likely.
It also doesn't seem outside the realm of possibility that season 3 will deal with Ansari's #MeToo moment in a more substantial way than his stand-up special. Since Master of None is a semi-autobiographical show and the moment was such a big one in Ansari's life, it seems highly possible that he would include a fictionalized version of what happened that expresses his real emotions about it.