On Friday, the Instagram followers of Donald Glover (Community, The Lion King) aka Childish Gambino saw a post for the first time from the actor, comedian and musician. Nearly three years after the season two finale of his acclaimed FX series Atlanta, Glover excited fans with a behind-the-scenes photo confirming that production on the series has begun in the United Kingdom.
Collider describes Glover’s photo as “look[ing] like it was taken on an older cell phone with poor photo quality.” Despite the fuzzy nature of the photo, fans could make out reunited stars of the series LaKeith Stanfield (Sorry to Bother You, Judas and the Black Messiah), Brian Tyree Henry (Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, If Beale Street Could Talk) and Zazie Beetz (Deadpool 2, Joker) standing beside Glover.
According to Entertainment Weekly, reports have indicated that season three of Atlanta “will pick up right where season [two] left off” despite the year’s long gap between seasons. Production on Atlanta had moved to Europe, coinciding with the end of season two which saw Glover’s Earn and his friends “bound for European tour with rising rapper Clark County” (Entertainment Weekly).
The behind-the-scenes gap in production has been attributed to the increasingly busy schedules of Atlanta’s stars, namely Glover. The COVID-19 pandemic furthered the delay, as production was meant to start in 2020 with a premiere date originally anticipated for January of this year, according to Entertainment Weekly.
Atlanta fans won’t have to worry about another vast gap between seasons three and four, as the series plans to film both seasons concurrently. Screen Rant confirmed details of the series filming locations, stating that Glover’s one-and-only Instagram post denotes the beginning of filming in London and, after London, the production will move to Amsterdam and then Paris.
Season two of Atlanta scored Glover and FX three Emmy wins and thirteen nominations and Collider notes that “when Atlanta comes back, its [award-winning] cast will be even bigger than before.” As Glover’s post confirmed that production is merely in it’s earliest stages, a timeline has not yet been announced as to when fans can expect the series’ highly-anticipated third season.