The Bear season 3


The third season of the American comedy-drama television series The Bear premiered with all episodes on June 26, 2024, on FX on Hulu. Christopher Storer and Joanna Calo serve as showrunners for the season. FX renewed the series for a ten-episode third season in November 2023. Jeremy Allen White stars as Carmy Berzatto, an award-winning chef who returns to his hometown of Chicago to manage the chaotic kitchen at his deceased brother's sandwich shop.
Ebon Moss-Bachrach, Ayo Edebiri, Lionel Boyce, Liza Colón-Zayas, Abby Elliott, and Matty Matheson return from the previous season as the supporting cast. In November 2023, following the release of the second season, FX renewed The Bear for a third season, which began filming in February 2024 in Chicago. The season consists of ten episodes, and received positive reviews.

Cast and characters

Main

Recurring

Guest

Episodes


Production

Development

In November 2023, following the release of the second season, FX renewed The Bear for a ten-episode third season. The season was announced with co-showrunners Christopher Storer and Joanna Calo serving as executive producers, along with Hiro Murai, Josh Senior and star Matty Matheson.

Writing

Storer wrote all episodes in the season, except "Napkins", "Ice Chips" and "Apologies", which were respectively written by Catherine Schetina, Calo, and supervising producer Alex Russell.

Casting

Josh Hartnett was cast as Tiffany's fiancé after meeting Storer years prior when they discussed a possible role for a film. Hartnett accepted the role without even reading the script. John Cena was cast as Sammy Fak. "Forever" features cameos by Christina Tosi and Grant Achatz.

Costuming

Costume designer Courtney Wheeler told GQ that picking out vintage neckties to go with Fak's suits was her special "pride and joy" in styling season three.

Set decoration and props

Ceramicist Jono Pandolfi sent The Bear crew "a tonprobably 1,000 to 2,000 pieces, like a full restaurant load" of their plates and bowls for use in the on-screen Bear restaurant. The restaurant uses dishes from the Coupe and Square-Side lines.
In reality as on the show, a large budget line item in season three was fresh flowers for the restaurant. When not being immediately used for filming the flowers were stored in a backstage refrigerator to protect them from the heat generated by soundstage lights and engines and bodies.

Filming

Filming for the third season began in February 2024. In March 2024, scenes depicting the cast filming a funeral for "Doors" leaked to the Internet, with fans speculating that they would attend Marcus' mother's funeral. The second episode, "Next", was filmed in just two days. Main cast member Ayo Edebiri directed the sixth episode of the season, "Napkins", after joining the Directors Guild of America. Parts of the fourth season were filmed during filming for this season.
According to Scott D. Smith, the head of the sound production team since the pilot episode, "Overall, this season is much quieter than the previous two seasons." Cinematographer Andrew Wehde told Panavision about filming the show generally, and season three specifically, "The thing that I get from Chris is that each season it's important to not be doing the same thing, not to repeat the trick. It's a weird thing because television's all about consistency, but he finds consistency through storytelling and characters and allows each episode to live and breathe as its own little film...They have different music, different pacing, and the emotions are different, but they connect so well because of repeat locations, the tone, and who the characters are."

Music

According to a Block Club Chicago feature on composers Jeffrey Qaiyum and Johnny Iguana, "The duo said season three is quieter overall than the first two seasons, both in terms of score and 'needle drop' songs. Qaiyum praised the producers for pulling the whole thing together and not bogging down scenes with music that don't need it."

Release

The third season of The Bear was originally scheduled to premiere on June 27, 2024, but ended up releasing on June 26, 2024, on Hulu and Disney+.

Reception

Critical response

On Rotten Tomatoes, 89% of 87 critics gave the third season a positive review, with an average rating of 7.9/10. The website's critics consensus states. "Having set an exceedingly high standard of excellence for itself, The Bear spends its third season simmering, stewing, and giving off an aroma that whets the appetite." The website also reported that the season was "as audacious as ever" and it "still seems to continue delivering compelling and often intense television with performances that are so dependably brilliant that they're not even mentioned in most of the reviews. Instead, at this point in a show's life, it's easier to find faults in its sameness or changes, or in its attempts to repeat or outdo itself." Metacritic assigned it a weighted average score of 80 out of 100 based on 44 critic reviews.
James Poniewozik of The New York Times wrote, "It is for the third season of The Bear, in which one of the most brilliant shows on TV attempts a complex, at times confusing, elaboration on its themes. The 10 episodes are often innovative in execution but sometimes stale in their repetition of established conflicts. It’s an astonishing display of talent. But it is likely to leave anyone hoping for narrative momentum disappointed."

Accolades

The third season received 13 nominations for the 77th Primetime Emmy Awards. Notable nominations include Outstanding Comedy Series, Jeremy Allen White for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series, Ayo Edebiri for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series and Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series, Ebon Moss-Bachrach for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series, Liza Colón-Zayas for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series, Jon Bernthal for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series and Olivia Colman and Jamie Lee Curtis for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series.