Will there be a Cruel Summer Season 3 on Freeform?
Cruel Summer just wrapped up its fantastic second season on Freeform and Hulu. But will the crime anthology series get a third year with a possibly new cast and story? Here’s the latest updates!
Premiering in 2021, Cruel Summer was a sensation with viewers thanks to its unique storytelling. The series was set over three consecutive summers, 1993, 1994, and 1995, focusing on the disappearance and return of a popular high school teenager and her accusation a fellow student helped cover up her kidnapping.
The show had some amazing twists and a fun style (such as how each summer was filmed in a different color motif) and ended in a twist-filled finale. That left room for a new season but executive producers Jessica Biel and Michelle Purple instead decided the best way to go was to turn the show into an anthology.
Thus, Season 2 had a brand new storyline and characters, set between the summers of 1999 and 2000, as two girls go from strangers to friends to enemies while tied into a complex murder case. As with the first season, each timeline had its own motif and mixed together to draw out the mysteries.
The Season 2 finale was a stunner that wrapped up the main mystery while leaving the door open for a return to these characters. A question remains if there will be a Season 3 or not.
What are the chances for Cruel Summer Season 3?
Speaking online in June, both Biel and Purple were hopeful for a third season and encouraged fans to “show up” for Season 2 to boost numbers. That seems to have worked, with ratings for Season 2 doing well and adding more via Hulu replays.
But there are concerns, given Freeform has axed a few shows such as The Watchful Eye and Single Drunk Female. There’s also the ongoing WGA and SAG strikes in Hollywood that have paralyzed all production and made networks wary of giving the okay to any scripted fare at the moment.
However, the show does have both a passionate fanbase and critical acclaim to push its chances at renewal up. Also, perhaps axing lesser-watched fare means Freeform wants to invest more in a buzzy hit like Cruel Summer. If Season 3 happens, it’s likely to be another new storyline and characters to keep to the anthology format, perhaps set in the mid-2000s.
Right now, Freeform has yet to give any indications that Cruel Summer is renewed or canceled, but fans are hopeful another Summer of thrills is coming their way.
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Cruel Summer Seasons 1 and 2 are streaming on Hulu.