The OA season 3 renewal: Could it happen at Netflix?
While today’s launch of season 2 was a little more hyped than the first go-around, Netflix still isn’t pouring their marketing budget into this show. A part of that is intentional; this is a series that has that whole it-speaks-for-itself vibe going on. They like that exists under a cloud of mystery and that viewers go on somewhat of a journey of discovery with it. They can ask their own questions, not draw false assumptions, and then watch/anticipate at their own pace. The drawback to this strategy however, is that we’re not sure how many viewers The OA is reaching beyond that loyal, diehard contingent that’s already out there proclaiming that they’re all-in. Netflix shows need viewers, and our philosophy over how badly they need them almost immediately has certainly changed over the past several months. There was an era where patience worked well and there was time to grow a show; now, these shows need viewers fast. Just take a look at Everything Sucks!, One Day at a Time, The Good Cop, or any of the other shows that Netflix has sent to the TV graveyard over the past year. We’d include all the Marvel stuff in here, but it’s fairly clear at this point that they made those moves for something a little different than your standard “business reasons.”
There is no confirmation of an OA season 3 just yet — hence, why CarterMatt is not brimming with excitement just yet. This show needs to discover viewers and deliver at least some semblance of clarity as to what it’s about — superficial viewers will otherwise see the title, say “huh?” to themselves, and then move on to re-watching repeats of some unscripted reality show. The important thing creatively is this: There’s a plan for what the future could look like in the event the show does return. Speaking via the Radio Times, Jason Isaacs had the following to say:
“[Creators Zal Batmanglij and Brit Marling] got all five seasons mapped out in their head. They did before they started … And that’s one of the reasons, I think, why the show was originally picked up by Netflix. Because they arrived with this thing that was fully-formed. It’s their singular voices. It doesn’t bear the stamp of any kind of executive development.
“I’m so invested in seeing it as a fan that I hope to God that people like the show as much as I do because we’d like to get a season three, four and five.”
The biggest thing standing in the show’s way
We do think that there’s a very-real chance that some viewers even for season 1 have no recollection that the show is even back — it originally aired more than two years ago! We understand this new-age thinking of “let’s give shows however long they need to make the story perfect,” but there is such a thing as waiting so long that viewers forgot that you were ever on in the first place. That’s a real risk here, especially in an era where there are approximately a trillion other things on and most viewers have the attention span of a dog at a Frisbee park.
We should know about a season 3 over the next few months, and our advice is to just keep your eyes peeled and keep coming back for more insight.
Do you want to see The OA season 3 happen at Netflix? Be sure to share right now in the comments. (Photo: Netflix.)