Four years after the second season aired, it seems we’re finally getting a Master Of None Season 3. Rumours have been flying since January that the Aziz Ansari series was set to make its big return — and today the show has popped up in the May schedule for Netflix.
I can’t tell you exactly when in May the show will drop, because the schedule says “Coming soon”. Does this mean in May? In 2021? In this decade? I don’t know, but I’ve asked Netflix for comment.
In the meantime, according to reports from Chortle, a UK-based comedy site, Master Of None Season 3 will be set in London, with the outlet even claiming they have intel on who will play Dev Shah’s (Ansari) love interest in the show — British actor Naomi Ackie.
There’s a lot to unpack here, aside from the fact that Dev maybe didn’t end up with his Season 2 Italian boo Francesca (Alessandra Mastronardi) after all. The main point of interest here is that everyone questioned whether Master of None Season 3 would ever happen at all, given the 2018 sexual misconduct allegation against Ansari.
The alleged victim’s story, which was published on the now defunct website Babe.net, prompted much online discussion about consent.
The woman, given the alias of Grace in the article, said that she felt pressured into sex by Ansari when she went back to his house after a date. However shortly after the allegations surfaced, Ansari released a statement saying that he believed the encounter was “completely consensual”.
During online discussion around the article, some pointed out that the story sounded like more of a breakdown of communication rather than overt sexual misconduct, while others were happy to throw Ansari into the bin along with Harvey Weinstein, Louis C.K. and Kevin Spacey, who were also accused of sexual misconduct around the same time. (Last year, Weinstein was sentenced to 23 years in prison for third-degree rape and first-degree criminal sexual act, while Spacey was charged on several counts but as of 2019, all cases had been dropped. C.K. has acknowledged the accusations against him and apologised for his actions.)
Netflix, who had fired Spacey from House of Cards in the wake of sexual assault allegations against the actor, didn’t cancel Master Of None despite calls from some to do so. In fact, fans of the show have been waiting for Master Of None Season 3 in a bit of a limbo period since the streaming service never cancelled the series but never seemed to renew it either.
These reports from Chortle, which even indicate that the show started filming before a COVID-19 induced production break, were the first reports we’ve heard about the series in a long time. And now it’s actually really happening. At some point in May (?). Allora!
