The Barry Season 4 Trailer Promises A Deadly Serious (And Darkly Funny) Final Season

Comic tragedies are big right now (just look at "Succession" and "The White Lotus"), but perhaps the greatest comedic tragedy since "The Sopranos" is coming to its end on HBO, and the final trailer is here. Bill Hader's "Barry," about a hitman who gets bitten by the acting bug while working a job in Los Angeles, will premiere its final season on Sunday, April 16, 2023, with new episodes each Sunday thereafter. "Barry" is an absolute masterclass in storytelling, packing more punch into its 30-minute episodes than many shows do with a full hour. 

Things were looking pretty bleak for Barry at the end of season 3, in which the hitman's murder of his acting teacher's girlfriend finally came back to haunt him and he was arrested for his crimes. The series has long walked a tonal tightrope between humor and horror, with some of its best episodes whipping between the two tones with frenetic speed (season 2's "ronny/lily" is an all-timer), and this looks almost entirely pitch-black. While the fourth and final season looks like it's going to get really, really dark, at least star Anthony Carrigan, who plays the hilarious Noho Hank, promised that the show will still find time to be funny. Those laughs better be gut-busters, because the latest trailer is absolutely brutal.

The third season of "Barry" ended with a lot of wild twists, including not only Barry's arrest and the involvement of his acting teacher, Gene Cousineau (Henry Winkler), but also Barry's girlfriend Sally (Sarah Goldberg) killing a man and running away to Missouri, and Noho Hank's absolutely insane escape from his Bolivian imprisonment. The show has continued to raise the stakes each season, and the trailer hints at just how much chaos is yet to come. While it's a bummer that such an incredibly made and wildly entertaining show has to end, I'm glad that at least they're going out on their own terms and will give "Barry" a definitive ending. Whether they stick the landing or not remains to be seen, but I'm hopeful that it will be satisfying (though likely not very happy). As long as Noho Hank survives, I'm happy. 

Season 4 of "Barry" looks like it will reunite the killer-for-hire with some of his old foes, like Fuches (Stephen Root) and Cousineau, but it also looks like he's going to be spending some serious time in prison. If the previous seasons are anything to go by, I can all but guarantee it's going to be a heart-pounding, nail-biting, soul-crushing ride.

The final season of "Barry" premieres April 16, 2023 at 10 p.m. EST on HBO.