‘The Politician’ Season 3 Is Coming—Just Don’t Expect it Anytime Soon

Warning: Spoilers ahead for The Politician season 2 on Netflix. Those who have finished the second season of The Politician know that even dirtier politics are in store for the third season. While there isn’t a lot of information out there about The Politician season 3 release date, cast and spoilers, we’ll do our best to break down what to expect from the next season of Ryan Murphy’s comedy-drama.

But before we discuss season 3, let’s recap what went down in The Politician season 2. The second season, which premiered on Netflix on Friday, June 19, followed Payton Hobart and his campaign team a year after the events of season 1, where Payton lost the election for student body president and has quit politics all together. Payton’s campaign team, who all live in New York City, convince him to run for New York State Senate after telling him some information that would boost his chances and threaten those of his competitor, incumbent Majority Leader Dede Standish.

After a season of dirty politics, the election ends in a tie between Dede and Payton, which forces them to play rock, paper, scissors to determine the new senator. As Payton practices for the game, Infinity, his former classmate and student body president running mate, tells him that she stole a box of ballots that would’ve swayed the election in Dede’s favor. Payton decides to keep the stolen ballots a secret and plays rock, paper, scissors with Dede. But before they can play, Dede forfeits the election to run for Vice President with Payton’s mom, Georgina. Season 2 ends two years later with both Dede and Payton done with their terms. In the final scene, Dede tells Payton that she’s running for President and wants him to be her VP, which Payton seemingly agrees to.

When’s the season 3 release date?

Image: Netflix.

In an April interview with Collider, creator Ryan Murphy revealed that season 3 will be the final season of The Politician. While seasons 1 and 2 came out within less than a year of each other, Murphy hinted that season 3 won’t be released for a couple more years until Ben Platt (who plays Payton) is older and is more realistic-looking for a presidential campaign.

“I would like to do, and I think all of us involved in it would probably like to do three seasons total,” he said at the time. “And I think where Season 2 ends, what I would love to do is take a couple of years off and have Ben Platt get a little bit older for his final race. That would obviously be a presidential race, right? That’s always what we had designed, and I think that’s what our plan is.”

Who’s in the cast?

Image: Netflix.

The cast for The Politician season 3 isn’t confirmed, but Murphy confirmed that at least Ben Platt (Payton Hobart) will return. It’s also assumed that Judith Light (Dede Standish) will come back as the president to Payton’s VP. What’s still in the air is the supporting cast: Theo Germaine (James Sullivan), Laura Dreyfuss (McAfee Westbrook), Julia Schlaepfer (Alice Charles), Zoey Deutch (Infinity Jackson) and Astrid Sloan (Lucy Boynton). Given a third election in season 3, we’re sure that James, McAfee and Alice will return as Payton’s campaign team. (Alice also gave birth to Payton’s baby at the end of season 2.) The other cast members, we’re not sure, but expect a limited role for Infinity, who took a step back in season 2 after a main role in season 1.

What’s season 3 about?

Image: Netflix.

It’s clear from Murphy’s Collider interview and season 2 that season 3 will be about the presidential campaign with Dede as president and Payton as vice president. Murphy hinted in his interview that Payton may be the one to run for president, so there could be a plot twist in season 3 where drops out as VP to run against Dede as president. As for who other presidential campaign competitors could be, The Politician may have Dede and Payton run against Georgina (Gwyneth Paltrow), who was the president over Dede, but seemed like she didn’t want the role anymore. Dede and Payton could also run against Tino, a Junior-Senator-Elect from Texas, who wanted to run for president with Dede as his VP before he was disgraced in a scandal with his wife.