’13 Reasons Why’ Renewed for Season 3 by Netflix

13 Reasons Why has officially been renewed for a third season, with Netflix revealing the news with a video announcement on Wednesday.

The clip sees a locker being opened and a paper bag taken out, with the locker door bearing the number three in black paint.

Text on the screen then shares that the show’s third season will be arriving in 2019. Deadline shares that the third season, like its predecessors, will feature 13 episodes.

The show’s second season premiered on May 18, drawing controversy just like its first. Tackling controversial topics like suicide, rape, bullying and more, the show has been criticized for its potentially harmful effect on viewers.

One scene from the new season depicts a brutally graphic rape, which showrunner Brian Yorkey defended while speaking to Vulture.

“We’re committed on this show to telling truthful stories about things that young people go through in as unflinching a way as we can,” he explained. “We fully understand that that means some of the scenes in the show will be difficult to watch. I think Netflix has helped provide viewers with lots of resources for understanding that this may not be the show for everybody, and also resources for people who do watch it and are troubled and need help.”

Yorkey added, “When we talk about something being ‘disgusting’ or hard to watch, often that means we are attaching shame to the experience. This is why these kinds of assaults are underreported. This is why victims have a hard time seeking help. We believe that talking about it is so much better than silence.”

Despite the backlash, the show remains one of Netflix’s most popular offerings, with the second season’s premiere episode attracting six million viewers in three days, according to Nielsen, Deadline reports.

While the first season focused on teen Hannah Baker (Katherine Langford) and her suicide with the second season continuing to incorporate the character, Langford will not be returning for the third season.

Langford confirmed the news to Entertainment Weekly, explaining that she felt the show was done telling Hannah’s story.

“For me, we told Hannah’s story so fully in Season 1,” she said. “In a way, doing that scene in episode 13 [of Season 2], I’ve so often referred to it as it was the hardest scene because it’s the scene where I had to let her go. I think coming back this season was challenging because it was playing her but not really her.”

“I guess if I could put Hannah’s life into season 1 and then say it was kind of like being in purgatory for season 2, and then being able to officially say goodbye to her,” she added. “It definitely felt like time.”

Photo Credit: Netflix