Atlanta Finally Returns In March After A Four Year Break

It's been a dark four years without "Atlanta," but luckily, the show has finally set a return date. The third season of FX's experimental series will return on March 24, 2022, with a new teaser trailer set to debut on Christmas Day.

The Emmy-winning series created by Donald Glover made an immeasurable impact on the industry when it debuted in 2016. The influence of the ever-shifting dark comedy about an Atlanta rapper and his manager/cousin is clear across the TV landscape even as it's been on hiatus, with great shows like "Ramy" and "Reservation Dogs" clearly drawing on its specificity and surrealism. But "Atlanta" itself has been sorely missed these past years. Filming on the show was previously postponed due to scheduling conflicts, but now that it's finally back in production, "Atlanta" reportedly already has a fourth season in the works.

While the series' third season doesn't seem to have a special subtitle — Season 2 was subtitled "Robbin' Season" — we know it will mostly take place in Europe during a music tour. Presumably, this is the same tour rapper Paper Boi (Brian Tyree Henry), his cousin Earn (Donald Glover), and their crew left for in the season 2 finale way back in 2018. Longtime viewers who survived the seemingly endless wait for the series to hit streaming will be happy to hear that FX is also working with Hulu to ensure episodes will be available on the platform the day after they air on FX.

Series creator Glover already dropped one teaser for the season on Halloween, featuring a bunch of unsettling shots and a voiceover chorus insisting, "It's after the end of the world! Don't you know that yet?" The promo ends with Paper Boi sitting at a table wearing a shirt that says "FAKE" while two people stand on either side of him, "Blair Witch"-style, facing the corners of the room. The promo doesn't indicate whether this is actual footage from the season or not, but either way, it leaves us anticipating that the show could spin full-tilt into the creepiness it cultivated in earlier episodes.

It makes sense that "Atlanta" has taken a while to return: Its cast has been incredibly busy. Zazie Beetz, who plays Earn's on-and-off partner Van, has appeared in films like "Joker" and this year's award season contender "The Harder They Fall." Brian Tyree Henry has taken an assortment of roles including in major releases like Marvel's "Eternals" and "Godzilla vs. Kong." Meanwhile, Lakeith Stanfeild, who plays oddball Darius, has appeared in fan favorite films like "Uncut Gems" and "Knives Out" and earned an Oscar nomination for his work in "Judas and the Black Messiah." Glover himself has juggled multiple careers for over a decade now, releasing his latest album under the name Childish Gambino in 2020 and lending his voice to Jon Favreau's remake of "The Lion King" the year before.

"Atlanta" returns to FX on March 24, 2022. The first two seasons are available to stream on Hulu.