Note: contains spoilers for Legion.
It's official, Legion is returning for season three. This will come as a major relief for fans of the mind-bending Marvel series, especially as many greeted the news that season two would have an extra episode as confirmation that it was about to be cancelled (with the additional episode being used to wrap things up).
Thankfully, that's not the case, and we'll be getting more of the sort of surreal madness that follows David Haller (Dan Stevens), son of Professor Charles Xavier, as he continues to journey into his own mind in an attempt to conquer his own powers and battle the demonic Shadow King (Navid Negahban).
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"Legion has redefined the superhero drama and exceeded all expectations as the intensity and revelation build through the second season," said FX original programming president Eric Schrier.
"We are incredibly proud of Noah Hawley's achievement and are honoured to continue the series as it pushes the boundaries of conventional television storytelling.
"We are also grateful for the contributions of our executive producers, John Cameron, Lauren Shuler Donner, Simon Kinberg, and Jeph Loeb with Marvel Television, as well as our outstanding cast and crew of this groundbreaking show."
But when will the X-Men spin-off return, and what will it be about? We’re glad you asked!
Legion season 3 air date: When will it be on?
Season three began filming in November of last year, and is expected to wrap up in March this year. With a 2019 air-date confirmed, we’d expect the first episode to land in October.
Season one aired in February 2017, with season two landing in April 2018. This would mean that season three will air significantly later than previous seasons, but considering the show has always had a major horror vibe, an autumn debut could add viewers – especially as season three looks set to be the darkest yet.
Legion season 3 cast: Who will be in it?
Dan Stevens will definitely return, and we’d expect Rachel Keller, Aubrey Plaza, Bill Irwin, Jeremie Harris, Amber Midthunder, Jean Smart, Katie Aselton, Navid Negahban, Jemaine Clement and Hamish Linklater to all appear in one form or another.
There’ll also be at least one new face, with Lauren Tsai playing a mutant named Switch who is “described as a young mutant whose secret ability serves as the key to executing David Haller’s plan".
We also wouldn’t be surprised if we saw a recast Professor X (sorry Patrick Stewart, but you have said you've retired from the role).
Navid Negahban, who plays the Shadow King in season two, revealed there had been 'talks' about involving Charles Xavier, but not even he's sure if it will happen.
"There were some talks, but I don't know how real the talks were. Truly, I don't know. That's all up to Noah [Hawley, Legion creator]," Negahban said.
Legion season 3 plot: What will it be about?
With season two seeing David return after a year of being trapped in a mysterious orb, with his team joining forces with former foe Clark (Hamish Linklater) and his sinister government organisation, Division III, during his absence, expect the repercussions to be a significant element of season three.
We last saw David caged and repeating the mantra ‘I am a good person, I deserve love,’ before breaking out and vanishing – so we expect season three to involve Haller taking his first steps towards becoming the supervillain we all know from the comics. That certainly fits with what showrunner Hawley has said about what comes next.
“For me, I always had this question in my mind,” the showrunner said. “What would happen if Walter White was a supervillain? That Breaking Bad superhero show. This idea, especially in the X-Men universe, that the moral line between good and evil is often fudge-able."
"Magneto, who sometimes is their villain and sometimes is on their side, and the idea of what the right thing to do is can shift depending on the circumstances. So I wanted to evolve the show so that you realise over time that maybe David’s not the hero of your show, but maybe Syd is the hero of your show.”
But with Legion’s key selling point being its unpredictability, it’s almost impossible to guess what season three will cover, outside of the fact it’ll be super weird and there’ll definitely be at least one epic dance sequence.
"Yeah, [it's] a little bit [giving myself up to the madness]," Dan Stevens told Digital Spy. "And that's part of the ask to the audience as well.
"Everybody's like, 'Ahh, I don't know what's happening!' It's like, 'Well, you shouldn't know what's happening one hour into an 11-hour story'.
"We want to take you on this really trippy route, and if we gave everyone too many answers one hour in, that would be a bit dull. So we're looking to intrigue and take you on a trip."
Let’s hope they find room for more X-Men Easter eggs and another mysterious celebrity narrator.
But as long as it keeps twisting our melons, we’ll be happy.
Legion season 3 trailer: When will we see it?
With the shooting schedule completely on track for a Comic-Con debut, we predict we’ll see the first trailer for season three in July. As soon as it arrives, we’ll stick it into this feature, so bookmark this page and keep coming back for all the latest Legion season three news and scoops.
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Sam is an entertainment writer with NCTJ accreditation and a twenty-year career as a film journalist.
Starting out as a staff writer at Total Film, moving up to Deputy Online Editor, Sam was responsible for Total Film’s YouTube channel, where he revolutionised the magazine’s approach to video junkets, creating influential formats that spread to other outlets.
He’s interviewed a wide range of film icons, including directors such as David Lynch, Quentin Tarantino, Paul Thomas Anderson, Sofia Coppola, Ridley Scott, Michael Bay and Sam Raimi, as well as actors such as Meryl Streep, Nic Cage, Brad Pitt, George Clooney, Anne Hathaway, Margot Robbie, Natalie Portman, Kermit the Frog, all of the Avengers and many more.
Sam has also interviewed several comic creators, including Stan Lee, Alan Moore, Grant Morrison, and he has a zombie cameo in The Walking Dead comic.
In 2014, Sam went freelance, working directly for film studios including Warner Brothers, 20th Century Fox and Disney, as well as covering red carpet events for film marketing company PMA Productions.
Sam is the co-host, producer and editor of the Arrow Video podcast, which has seen year-on-year growth since its creation in 2017, gaining over half a million listens in that time.
His byline has appeared in outlets such as Yahoo, MTV, Dazed, Esquire, Harper’s Bazaar, Cosmopolitan, Elle, and Good Housekeeping among others.
In 2012, Sam made it to the final of the Leicester Square Theatre New Comedian of the Year competition, and went on to become a filmmaker himself, directing three features that have all played major festivals, and secured distribution – starring in two of them.
Jim Carrey once mistook Sam for Johnny Cash, and John Carpenter told him to ‘Keep up the good work.’ He promises to try his best.
