'Barry' Season 3 Delay Has Allowed Season 4 Scripts To Be Finished Ahead Of Schedule
HBO's assassin comedy series Barry starring Bill Hader was one of the many shows preparing to head into production just before the coronavirus pandemic shut everything down for most of last year. Though production on some movies and TV shows has picked back up with strict safety protocols in place, it sounds like the creators of Barry are being a little more cautious, because they haven't started shooting the show's third season yet. But the good news is that the extended hiatus has allowed Bill Hader and series co-creator Alec Berg to write the entirety of season 4.
Bill Hader appeared on Late Night with Seth Meyers last night (via The AV Club), and his old Saturday Night Live buddy is eagerly anticipating the third season of Barry like the rest of us. So he asked where they were at with the making of new episodes. Hader explained:
"Right when the lockdown happened in March, we were a week away from shooting. So the last time I was in a room with a lot of people was the table read episodes one and two of season three, and we were ready to go. Then it all got shut down. Season three is completely written, ready to go, and then during this time we actually went and wrote season four. So we have both of those kinda done. We're just waiting until we can start shooting again."
Knowing that writing on season 4 is already finished is great news, especially since we haven't heard that HBO has officially ordered a fourth season yet. But the fact that Hader and Berg already wrote the scripts would seem to indicate that it's happening and just hasn't formally been announced by the cable channel just yet.
We're anxiously anticipating the third season of Barry, especially after that cliffhanger of an ending in the second season finale. We won't spoil it for anyone out there who is still interested in catching up with Barry before the new episodes arrive (it sounds like you have plenty of time), but suffice it to say that it's going to take some clever maneuvering for Barry to get out of that pickle.
New episodes of Barry can't come soon enough, but with the coronavirus pandemic seeing a dangerous surge in California right now, production on many movies and TV shows has been suspended for the time being and it's not clear when they might get back to work. That means we might not see Barry return to HBO until 2022. But whenever the show comes back, we'll be glad to have it.
The first two seasons of Barry are available on HBO and HBO Max right now, and you can watch Bill Hader's interview with Seth Meyers below.