Today we learned that the upcoming third season of Steven Canals' and Ryan Murphy's groundbreaking show Posewill be its last. "It was a very difficult decision for us to make, but this has been an incredible journey and we have told the story that we wanted to tell, the way we wanted to tell it," Canals said in a video posted to Twitter. "Although we know you'll be sad to see the show go, this season will be filled with all of the love, the laughter, and tears that you have come to expect from the Evangelista family."
Many of the cast and crew have similarly written messages about closing out the show. "Pose has been one of the creative highlights of my entire career," Murphy said, noting that the show "will go down in history for having the largest LGBTQ+ cast of all time." Rodriguez went on to write that the series changed her life.
While we're all mourning the loss of one of the best, and most important, shows we've ever seen on TV, we still have one more season of the show to look forward to. Here's what we know so far about what's in the pipeline.
When Will it Air and How Many Episodes?
Pose will be ending with a shortened, seven-episode season. The first two episodes will air May 2, at 10 p.m. ET, and the season finale will air June 6.
The series, as normal, will first air exclusively on FX. It is likely to be made available on Netflix later. There is no word on why the season has been shortened but this may be a result of the global pandemic which has caused production to halt or be postponed multiple times.
What Year Is Season 3?
Like season two, season three begins with a time jump. This time, we'll be jumping to 1994, three years ahead of where season two ended off.
If you remember, season two began in 1990 with the release of Madonna's "Vogue." The finale leapfrogged ahead to May 1991.
On the set of season two, Murphy foreshadowed this impending end in an interview with Out.
"To me, the show has always been about the demolition of a community that refused to be silenced," Murphy told us at the time, saying that its final season would take place between 1995-96 when antiviral drugs were developed to help fight HIV. "The show is really about a group of marginalized people saying, 'I have a right to be here.'"
What's Happening With the House of Evangelista?
In this new season, ballroom is apparently a distant memory for Blanca, the founder and mother of the House of Evangelista. She's busy balancing being a mother with being a good partner to her new love. She's also seemingly moved on from her dream of owning a salon, and will be working as a nurse's aide.
But ballroom isn't completely gone from her life: according to Variety"the emergence of a vicious new upstart house forces the House of Evangelista members to contend with their legacy."
What About Pray Tell?
Pray Tell, played by Emmy winner Billy Porter, is struggling with his health in the third season, as AIDS becomes the leading cause of death for Americans ages 25-44. We aren't sure where this will lead him exactly but he helped break new ground on season two for people living with HIV, having a sex scene with Ricky Wintour who is also living with HIV.
Do We Know About Anyone Else?
While season 2 ended with Angel and Papi running off to find their happy ending modeling in Europe, Indya Moore and Angel Curiel have been posting images from on set and Curiel posted a video today talking about how hard it is to say goodbye to the cast and crew after working and bonding with them for the past several years. Suffice it to say, we think they'll be back for this final season.
As for Elektra? Well, we can't say we've seen anything definitive but there's no way we could go without her reads. Right? Right?!
Are There Any New Cast Members?
Yes! Tony and Emmy Award nominee Jeremy Pope (Hollywood) will be joining the cast, reportedly as a straight character -- maybe he's Blanca's new boo? Also, season two ended with Blanca and Pray Tell meeting some new kids to adopt into their family, hopefully we'll get to see who they've grown into.
Will There Be Ballroom Scenes?
Last year when the show's production was halted because of the pandemic, Canals said "the place on our show where the biggest impact will be felt will be the ball scenes: those scenes have 125 to 150 background actors. That's tricky, because that's such an important and critical part of our show and the narrative." At the time, there were concerns this could also impact intimate scenes and even kissing.
In January, Porter echoed these concerns, saying they had yet to film any ballroom scenes.
"We're still trying to figure that part out," he told Live with Kelly and Ryan. "We haven't shot any of the balls yet... I believe we are waiting for the ball sequences, to hopefully be shooting them inside some kind of vaccine situation so we can have all those people in the room."
But with chatter about a new upstate ballroom house, it seems they've gotten all of that figured out!
