Season 2 of Peacock's Based on a True Story has wrapped up, but many fans are still wondering if Season 3 is in the cards.
The Peacock series' second season had an incredibly eventful finale.
It’s revealed that Sara Paxton’s Paige, the sister of Natalie Dyer’s Chloe Lake (the first victim audiences see die in Season 1), is the copycat killer.
Thankfully, she isn’t able to kill either Ava (Kaley Chico) or Nathan (Chris Messina) before being knocked out cold. While this could have set up for a happy ending, instead, Matt slyly sets Nathan up to be framed as the West Side Killer when the police arrive—leaving the show on a massive cliffhanger.
On the viewership front, Season 2's performance has been decent, but not great - after releasing the entire batch of episodes on November 21, it never hit #1 on Peacock's Top U.S. shows charts (maintaining a #2 spot for five days during its first week on the service), and then dropped out of the Top 10 on December 5, just two weeks after its debut.
This shaky performance has led fans to question the likelihood of a Season 3 renewal and worry about the series' potential cancellation.
The Direct's Russ Milheim sat down with Based on a True Story producer Michael Costigan, who revealed how hopeful they are for Season 3 to get the green light.
Producer Comments on Chances of Season 3 for Based on a True Story
"There's a Lot More to Do."
- The Direct: "What about Season 3? Can fans feel good about this story continuing? And then how many seasons do you guys maybe hope for? Is there like a long-term plan that you guys have?"
Michael Costigan: We've always thought that this is a returning show because we also make limited series. We enjoy making limited series, which, more often than not, are kind of like a long movie, but our feeling was, at the end of Season 1, I can't wait to see what they're going to do next.
But Season 2 really came, Annie Weisman, who we loved 'Physical,' she and this great group of writers she assembled really wanted to keep taking it further and expanding the scope and the scale of it.
So, in Season 1, we didn't start out by saying, All right, well, here we know what's happening in Season 2, and we hope that's what makes Season 2 fun. It isn't like the culmination of Season 1, it really is surprising in a fun way, we hope.
And that's where with Season 3, which we certainly feel like, if the audience is there with us in Season 2, we really think and hope that they're going to want to go with us again. Yeah, because there's a lot more to do.
Be sure to check out the full interview here:
What Would a Season 3 Tackle?
Given the direction the story took, it's clear that the creatives behind Based on a True Story are hoping for a Season 3.
The obvious resolution that’s needed is getting Chris Messina’s Nathan out of Prison, which seems like a difficult task to accomplish. Perhaps Matt’s (Tom Bateman) son, who is now in police custody, could be a key element to that.
It's hard to imagine that Matt will last long before officially being revealed as the Westside Ripper. After all, Ava and Nathan have fewer reasons to try to hide his identity.
Speaking of Matt, he escaped with the copycat killer and has some questions for her. But it's unclear what exactly he hopes to accomplish.
Then there’s Liana Liberto’s Tory (who also spoke with The Direct), who turns in Matt’s son to the police and roams around directionless. It's unclear what’s next for her, but she’s clearly not in a great headspace and is doubting her time with Matt (as she should have from the start).
Based on a True Story is now streaming on Peacock.
For those still processing Season 2, make sure to check out The Direct's interview with Melissa Fumero about her character's big twist!
