‘Atlanta’ Season 3 Delayed Due to Scheduling Conflicts, Zazie Beetz Says

Season 3 of the acclaimed FX dramedy Atlanta may be late, and star Zazie Beetz claims it is an unfortunate result of scheduling conflicts.

Atlanta is one of the most acclaimed shows on TV right now. Written by and starring Donald Glover, it tackles complex social and economic issues while tracing the rise of a young rapper. The show’s second season was a huge success last spring, but in a recent interview with IndieWire, Beetz says that it may be a while before it airs.

Beetz spoke to reporters in Utah this weekend during the Sundance Film Festival. She is there in support of Wounds, an indie horror that she co-stars in with Armie Hammer and Dakota Johnson. Roles like this, she explained, have kept both her and her Atlanta co-stars from getting back together for new episodes.

“Ideally we would be shooting now; that’s not happening,” she admitted, laughing. “Everybody’s schedules are sort of all over the place — they’re hoping for spring sometime, but no dates.”

Beetz herself has snagged some huge roles since Atlanta took off. Last year, she was lucky enough to play Domino in Deadpool 2, ahd she is expected to reprise the role for a future X-Force movie. She will also appear in DC Comics’ Joker movie later this year, along with a few other big movie roles. However, she said that she is not the only one spinning multiple plates.

“Everybody’s busy,” she went on, “and Donald [Glover] had his tour in the fall, and that doesn’t lend itself to time for scriptwriting. I know that they have a couple of episodes together, but I don’t have any real information.”

“Get your s— together, Donald!” joked Hammer. “We’re waiting.”

Of course, Glover also has the starring role in the new Lion King reboot, expected this summer. Meanwhile, Brian Tyree Henry, who plays his cousin Al, a.k.a. Paper Boi in the show, has been hard at work as well. Henry played Miles Morales’ father, Jefferson Davis, in Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse last month.

Henry seems to be coming off of several huge projects at once. He just starred in If Beale Street Could Talk and Widows, among others. All told, Henry appeared in seven feature films last year, in addition to his TV work.

As fans of Atlanta already know, the show is worth the wait. Beetz’s suggestion that Glover and the writers “have a couple of episodes together” may actually be encouraging, in light of all the other things going on. In order to qualify for the Emmy Awards at the end of the year, Atlanta would have to premiere by May 31. Considering the 16 nominations it received in 2018, FX may push hard to meet that deadline.