AMC’s the Killing is set to return with its third season on Sunday, June 2. Unlike the first two seasons, which have followed the unresolved killing of Rosie Larsen, this season will delve into a new case with Rosie’s murder being investigated along the way. AMC’s press release stated that season three will “end with a gripping two hour finale.” This American crime drama based on a Danish television series Forbrydelsen follows detective Sarah Linden (Mireille Enos) and Stephen Holder (Joel Kinnaman) as they hunt for the killer of a young Seattle girl.
The Killing was originally canceled in July by AMC only to be brought back on for a third season months after its initial canceling reported TVLine’s Kimberly Roots. Entertainment Weekly spoke with the show’s developer Veena Sud about the upcoming season and its tumultuous start. Sud said that the show’s renewal “felt like a miracle.” She went on to say, “I feel incredibly blessed that there were so many people behind us returning.”
Sud expressed her gratitude for the renewal not only towards AMC and Fox TV Studios, but also Netflix, which is playing a much larger role in the television world. When the show was initially canceled in July, rumors started that Netflix may choose to pick up the third season with intentions similar to those for Arrested Development. However, EW reported that AMC eventually reached an agreement with Fox and Netflix to air the show on AMC before making it available on Netflix three months after the season finale airs.
In a statement regarding the release of the third season, AMC’s president Charlie Collier said, “We learned so much from the first two seasons of the Killing and are thrilled to be bringing it back with the elements that the fans loved.” The president and general manager strongly supported the show through saying, “Veena’s captivating storytelling along with the performances of Joel and Mireille, and the rest of the exemplary cast, will remind audiences of what they loved about the series and provide a season of suspenseful television.”
Fans will be in for a different ride with the third season as the two-hour season premiere will take place a year later with the characters leading drastically different lives. Linden has left being a detective behind and we find her working a ferry and indulging in a 25-year-old lover. Sud told EW that “[Linden and Holder] have not seen each other since that day that Sarah walked out of the car and walked down the street and out of her old life.” Holder, however, still holds onto Rosie and continues to investigate the closed case. AMC’s blog on the Killing says that this search “leads him to discover a gruesome string of murders that connects to a previous murder investigation by Linden,” which will lead to her being “drawn back into the life she thought she’d left behind.”
June 2 will mark the beginning of a deeper look into the relationship and lives of Linden and Holder. On the AMC blog Sud said, “I’m thrilled to be working with our incredible writing team as we continue to explore the lives of ‘Sarah’ and ‘Holder’, who, like so many real-life detectives, grapple with the consequences to their own lives of a no-holds-barred immersion in the world of a homicide investigation.”