The third season of HBO’s The Newsroom will be its last. The network announced today that production is slated to begin on Season 3 of The Newsroom, and the premium cable channel also made mention that this would be the final season of the series. The Newsroom’s third and final season will air in the Fall. HBO also announced that Paul Lieberstein — known for his work both on and off screen on The Office — has joined the series as an executive producer.
Created by Aaron Sorkin, The Newsroom is a political drama that looks behind the scenes of a fictional cable news channel. The series mixes character drama, focusing on the people who work at the news channel, as well as the challenges and unexpected obstacles they regularly deal with while trying to research and report the news on a daily basis. Between the quirks of the characters and the high-stress nature of their job — added to Sorkin’s brand of rapid dialogue — the pace of the series moves pretty quickly, which adds to the atmosphere of the cable news channel backdrop.
The fact that the series is set to move forward with a third season is good news. Of course, word that it’s the last season is less good. Unsurprisingly, HBO’s announcement makes no mention of why the show is ending — whether it was their decision, Sorkin’s or a mutual decision — but Deadline points out that this renewal comes after months of discussions between HBO and Sorkin, and there was apparently some speculation over whether or not he would return to the drama. With a busy feature schedule, that’s understandable, so this last season may be the final compromise, with one more run before the show wraps up. Given the nature of the drama and the continued relevance of TV news, this is a series that could have gone on for years.
As mentioned, production will start in the Spring and it’s expected to premiere in the fall. That’s a longer wait than last year, as the series’ second season debuted in July and wrapped up in September.
HBO’s announcement also included word that Paul Lieberstein has signed on as an executive producer for Season 3. Lieberstein’s face is likely most recognizable from The Office, in which he played the quiet human resources guy Toby Flenderson. But Lieberstein has more credits for his work behind the scenes, having served as an EP and writer for The Office. He also worked on The Bernie Mac Show, The Drew Carey Show and King of the Hill. The Newsroom is a shift to drama for Lieberstein, but given the witty tone of the series, it seems like the right show to make that transition. It’ll be interesting to see how the series wraps up and what Lieberstein brings to the table.
For some reason, I’m not seeing The Newsroom available via HBO On Demand (through Fios), however the first two seasons are available on HBO Go.
Here’s a look at the trailer and (Jeff Daniels’ fantastic monologue) from the first season of the series:
