The Bear has officially been renewed for a third season on November 23 and will start production next year. The kitchen drama ended last season with a mixed bag of good and bad events.
The Bear, which has captivated the audience with its emotional and adrenaline-peaking kitchen adventures as well as poignant relationships between the various members of a restaurant, has been renewed for a third season in November.
The show is expected to enter the production stage in late February 2024, this delay is expected in the aftermath of the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. Hopefully the show will stream in mid 2024, depending on the pace of editing and post-production.
As of now, Jeremy Allen White (Carmy Berzatto), Ebon Moss-Bachrach (Richie), and Ayo Edebiri’s (Sydney) reprisal of their roles are confirmed. Cast members Abby Elliott (Natalie), Liza Colón-Zayas (Tina), Edwin Lee Gibson (Ebrahim), Lionel Boyce (Marcus), Oliver Platt (Cicero), Molly Gordon (Claire) and Matty Matheson (Neil) are also expected to return, though there are no confirmations yet. Fingers are kept crossed for more flashbacks of Jon Bernthal’s Mikey.
The story of The Bear has a simple yet challenging premise, a young chef of a Michelin star restaurant, leaves his successful world to go back to Chicago, to run his older brother’s Italian beef sandwich shop. Being the unlucky inheritor of a shop that is already piled with debts, a raggedy kitchen, and a mutinous staff, Carmy must deal with his personal insecurities and anxiety on the side while focusing on saving the sinking gastronomical ship.
Though not much is revealed about the plot of season 3, it is expected to resume right after the eventful Friends and Family Night season 2 finale, marking The Bear (the former The Beef) successful debut night, despite multiple hiccups. For starters, Carmy is locked in the restaurant’s walk-in freezer, and has managed to sabotage his life’s top two relationships, his friendship with Ritchie and his romance with childhood friend Claire.
If that is not enough, Sydney is left alone to deal with all the missing items (baskets of bread, clean forks) and people (a random line cook), luckily, she has Ritchie and Marcus to help her out. Thankfully, her father finally appreciates her talent and passion, despite her night’s vomit-inducing climax, and the guests are happy with the food they are served. Marcus finds his stride in the kitchen but misses out on some ominously important calls from his sick mother’s nurse.
Though fans have been speculating on various plot lines, one thing has been clarified by the actors playing Carmy and Sweeny in an interview with Variety in June 2023. There is little chance of any romance developing between their characters.
They explained that just saying ‘I need you,’ or sharing emotional moments does not guarantee romance, instead it can advocate for a beautiful platonic relationship as well. Both White and Edebiri assured fans that what they have is “partnership, but not a romantic partner.”
The Bear is critically acclaimed, with its first season becoming Hulu’s most-watched comedy series in the network’s history and earning 13 Emmy nominations. According to several streaming aggregators like Reelgood and JustWatch, season 2 of The Bear was the most-watched show in the US, during the last week of June 2023. Both the seasons also sport a 100% and 99% Rotten Tomatoes score, while Metacritic has given the show an aggregate of 90 out of 100.
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