Everything in The Bear Season 3 We’re Excited About

As a prestige TV enjoyer suffering a post-strike prestige TV drought, I am thrilled to share that FX’s The Bear on Hulu is coming back for a third season. An exact release date is yet to be announced, though we do know that our favorite food drama will hit the screen sometime in 2024, according to a press release. With the recent end to the SAG-AFTRA actors’ strike, Bear fans can rest assured that the show will presumably start production on season three soon.

That The Bear is coming back for thirds is no shocker: Season two’s finale left many loose ends for a third season to tie up. To recap, The Bear—the restaurant, that is—has opened to friends and family, but not everything’s swell and dandy for our rag-tag restaurant team. Chef Carmy Berzatto (Jeremy Allen White), for one, is trapped in the walk-in fridge for the better part of his own restaurant’s opening night. His entrapment, a very on-the-nose metaphor, results in an explosive seven-minute monologue about his career and relationship woes, unknowingly delivered to his girlfriend Claire (Molly Gordon) on the other side of the door. His sous chef Syd (Ayo Edebiri), meanwhile, helms the ship with grace—just as she has the entire season. How Carmy and Syd navigate their oft-fraught professional and creative partnership remains to be seen—as does the fate of the restaurant itself, which as of yet has only hosted their tight inner circle. How will diners—and critics—receive it?

We also know Jeremy Allen White, Ayo Edibiri, and Ebon Moss-Bachrach (who plays brash-turned-gentle cousin Richie) will return. But it’s anyone’s guess who or what else we’ll see. The Bear is recognizable for its adrenaline-pumping pace, extended cuts of ping-pong dialogue, and carefully (and convincingly) conceived restaurant dishes, like Syd’s cola-braised short ribs and risotto in season one. I can only pray to the writerly gods—also recently resuming work after a monthslong strike—that season three follows suit.

Last season’s Christmas episode, “Fishes,” sent my pop culture-infested brain into overdrive with one-after-the-other cameos from Jamie Lee Curtis, Sarah Paulson, and Bob Odenkirk as Carmy’s family members. The veterans delivered devastating performances befitting The Bear’s tense atmosphere—charged family dynamics, encircling and contextualizing Carmy’s career in restaurants, lend the show a level of emotional depth not often found in food TV. I’d also expect more divine food shots, such as Marcus’s (Lionel Boyce) meticulous pastry study in Copenhagen and Syd’s enviable tour of Chicago’s sundaes and soup dumplings. I’m eager to see Marcus hone his dessert chops, Tina (Liza Colón-Zayas) own her role as Syd’s second-in-command, and Richie expertly man the front of house. The Bear has done a commendable job building out the rich inner lives of not just the white male chef at the front of it all, but the equally complex ensemble that buoys him—and I hope to see more of it next season.

Meanwhile, as we wait patiently for more info, The Bear needs little more hype than the closely-watched lives (personal and professional) of its headlining stars. Jeremy Allen White, who has become a walking thirst tra, will co-star alongside Zac Efron in an upcoming A24 wrestling drama, The Iron Claw. Ayo Edebiri recently starred in the satirical and shockingly bloodthirsty rom-com Bottoms, and she and Molly Gordon both starred in the comedy Theater Camp. (They’re also longtime friends—I love when life imitates art.) Moss-Bachrach will always and forever be Desi from Girls to me, a character that occupies a non-negligible amount of my brainspace.

And if you’re craving food to tide you over, do like The Bear and make a creamy Boursin omelet, invoke Chicago’s spirit in a creamy giardiniera dip,or, if you have the chance, tour the city’s best hot dogs.