Here’s What to Expect from Season 3 of Dead to Me
Updated: Apr. 04, 2023
The beloved dark comedy is finally back, which means we’ll finally find out what happens to Jen and Judy! Here’s the inside scoop on Dead to Me Season 3.
It’s still alive! After several production delays, fans were left wondering if Dead to Me Season 3 would ever make it to Netflix. After all, the last new episodes of the addictive dark comedy series were released way back in 2020. But the show’s creator, Liz Feldman, just announced that the wait is almost over: Judy, Jen and the rest of the (surviving) cast will be heading to your screen this fall!
To say that this Netflix show is a fan favorite would be an understatement. Dead to Me’s first season garnered 30 million streams in the first month alone, with viewers binge-watching to see how the friendship between two women who meet at a grief support group evolves and then devolves as a twisted truth comes to light. Starring Christina Applegate as Jen and Linda Cardellini as Judy in pitch-perfect roles, it’s been nominated for five Emmys, including one for 2020’s best TV show. And Season 2 earned a 94% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, beating out some of the best shows on Apple TV+, Hulu and Amazon Prime Video.
So, what can you expect from Dead to Me Season 3? We’ve got all the details on the release date, the cast and the major plot points, including that cliffhanger.
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When is Dead to Me Season 3 coming out?
Just like The Witcher Season 3 and You Season 4, you’ll have to wait a little while longer … but not too long, thankfully! According to Netflix, the release date for Dead to Me Season 3 will be Thursday, Nov. 17. (That’s just a little over a week after The Crown Season 5 premieres on Netflix, FYI.) As with the earlier seasons, all 10 episodes will drop at once, so you can binge away! And these episodes are easy to binge—each one runs between 26 and 34 minutes, so make sure to clear your calendar and settle in for a solid five hours of viewing.
If you’re wondering what took so long, well, it’s complicated. For starters, the cast and creators didn’t announce that the show would be coming back until two months after Season 2 dropped. But then, the pandemic delayed production on Season 3 a few times, and Christina Applegate was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. Production finally got underway in 2021, and filming wrapped in late April 2022.
What will Dead to Me Season 3 be about?
Warning: Spoilers ahead! We’ve been treated to plenty of twisty (and twisted) plots over the last two seasons. For a quick recap, in Season 1, the truth comes out about Judy’s role in Jen’s husband’s death, and Jen kills Judy’s estranged husband, Steve (James Marsden), in the last episode. In Season 2, the two friends have to figure out what to do with the body. They eventually bury him in the woods, but then have to deal with all the people looking for him, including his twin brother Ben (also played by Marsden). In the finale, Jen and Judy are driving home together when a car—driven by a very drunk Ben—smashes into them. Judy and Jen survive the crash, and Ben speeds off, unaware they were the ones in the car.
So, now what? Well, that’s the question, of course. Feldman announced that Ben will go on “quite a journey” this season. Does he discover that Jen—whom he’s gotten involved with—killed his brother? Will Jen and Judy realize it was Ben who crashed into them? And there’s the question of Steve’s money-laundering scheme and whether Ben will somehow get roped into it. There’s also the question of what Jen’s son Charlie will do now that he knows his mother killed Steve. Don’t forget: He found the letter Jen wrote to Judy confessing her role in the murder.
The cast and crew have been pretty tight-lipped about details for Season 3, but one thing is for sure—the show’s dark sense of humor will be just as prominent, and there will be loads of F-bombs, per usual, if the brand-new trailer is any indication. In the trailer, alongside spine-tingling recaps of the last two seasons, we see Jen in recovery at the hospital wearing a neck brace and dealing ever so ungraciously with her pain. (Seriously, watch it. It’s hilarious.)
Who will be in the Dead to Me cast in Season 3?
Unlike Bridgerton, which got rid of everyone’s favorite dashing duke, all the main Dead to Me cast members are set to return. We know, because Feldman thanked them in a tweet while announcing that filming had officially wrapped. That includes Christina Applegate, Linda Cardellini, James Marsden, Diana Maria-Riva (Detective Perez), Sam McCarthy (Jen’s son Charlie), Luke Roessler (Jen’s son Henry), Brandon Scott (Nick Prager) and Suzy Nakamure (Karen).
What we don’t know yet is if everyone will survive this season. If Jen and Judy want to stay out of jail, they may need to eliminate a few other people. At the top of the potential hit list? Ben. Jen had no problem killing his twin brother, so she may not mind taking out the guy who nearly killed her and Judy in a hit-and-run, even if they are romantically involved. Then again, if Ben finds out about Jen killing his brother, then maybe it’s her who’s most at risk.
Will Season 3 of Dead to Me be the last?
Sadly, yes. But Dead to Me wasn’t canceled. Feldman, who now has an overall deal with Netflix, has said that her plan was always to keep the show to just a few seasons. “I always had the sense that I wanted this show to be a relatively short-running one,” she told the Hollywood Reporter in 2020. “I understand the landscape at Netflix. It’s very rare for them to have a show that goes five, six or seven seasons. It can happen, but it’s obviously the exception. Halfway through shooting Season 2, an idea came to me that felt very true to the show—and I realized that it could be a really great way to end it.”
So, clearly she had her ending in mind. Now we just need to wait and see what she has in store for Jen and Judy!
What other shows are like Dead to Me?
Nothing is quite like Dead to Me in terms of portraying the importance of close friendships when it comes to processing grief (and showing how a couple of suburban women can also be deceptive and murderous). However, the following shows come close in terms of dark humor.
- Killing Eve, also a Netflix original, finds plenty of dark humor while telling the story of an unstable female assassin and the people who are desperate to catch her. (Or maybe just desperate to get close to her.) But the complicated yet loving relationship between Villanelle (Jodie Comer) and Eve (Sandra Oh) is similar to Jen and Judy’s on Dead to Me, with their witty banter and codependency.
- Bad Sisters, a new thriller on Apple+, follows five sisters in Ireland who are being investigated for life insurance fraud after the death of one sister’s husband. All five had good reason to kill John Paul, but with this crew, family always comes first, and they’ll protect each other at all costs. You’ll love their funny conversations and tight bonds.
- Breaking Bad has very familiar cat-and-mouse vibes, plus the same type of dark humor as Dead to Me. If you’re one of the few who hasn’t seen the show, it centers on Walter White, who has to keep the fact that he’s one of the biggest meth suppliers in America from his family and his DEA brother-in-law. Bryan Cranston won four Best Actor Emmys for his role as Walter.
Need something to tide you over till Nov. 17? Check out the brand-new season of Virgin River.
Sources:
- The Hollywood Reporter: “‘Dead to Me’ Creator Breaks Down Season 2 Finale: ‘I’m Ripping Headlines Off a Telenovela'”
- Deadline: “‘Dead to Me’: Dark Comedy Finally Returns to Netflix for Last Season”
Originally Published: October 06, 2022
