Picture Credit: Netflix
It’s official! Guy Ritchie’s smash-hit crime series The Gentlemen is returning for a third outing on Netflix, although that won’t come as a huge surprise.
This early renewal comes just days before the highly anticipated release of season 2, which drops globally on Netflix on September 3rd. The sophomore outing picks up a year later, seeing Eddie Horniman (Theo James) and Susie Glass (Kaya Scodelario) growing their illicit empire.
Speaking about the renewal, creator and director Guy Ritchie said, “The ambition of The Gentlemen has accelerated, the world has expanded, and the consequences carry weight. A third season felt inevitable, and I’m looking forward to pushing the boundaries of it further.”
As we’ve previously covered, season 2 pushes the story past the English countryside and into Italy, bringing the Italian mafia into the mix, with Hugh Bonneville and Michele Morrone joining the cast for what Netflix is billing as a darker, wider-reaching next chapter. Clearly, the streamer is confident that the new episodes are going to be a massive hit, opting to lock in season 3 before season 2 even hits our screens!
Season 3 will consist of 8 episodes with Guy Ritchie serving as writer, director and executive producer. Matthew Read will also write with other executive producers including Ivan Atkinson, Will Gould, Simon Crawford, Collins and Frith Tiplady for Moonage Pictures alongside Jonathan Glickman and Marc Helwig for Miramax TV.
While plot details for the upcoming season are currently being kept under tight wraps, we hear production is scheduled to commence later this year.
Of course, the news of an official renewal isn’t coming as a complete surprise. Over the past few days, a flurry of stories has erupted following the news that Meghan Markle was eyed for a role. Indeed, we had been tipped that the Duchess of Sussex was being eyed for a “high-profile” UK-based series following the news that she and her family would be returning to the United Kingdom. Deadline on Friday afternoon tied the Duchess to The Gentlemen season 3 but stressed that talks were early. Over the weekend, following a lot of discussion and noise surrounding her potential involvement, reports from Fresh Hell over the weekend suggested that she had already been dropped from contention, writing, “The backlash in the UK was so intense, it became untenable to go forward.”
Netflix declined to comment on our request for comment about Markle’s possible role in the series, although they’ve naturally moved up the official announcement of season 3, something that’s been very much in the works and a go since late Spring / early Summer, to today.
For a full recap on everything we know so far about the future of the series, check out our main preview for The Gentlemen season 2 here.