Now is a great time for fans of Regency-era romance. Not only do we have Bridgerton returning for Season 3 on Netflix, but Sanditon, which was sadly canceled by its U.K. network (ITV) in December 2019, saw that decision reversed, and found its way back to our TV screens in March 2022 With that surprising Sanditon Season 2 ending. Now, fans around the world are eagerly looking ahead to their hopes for the third installment.
Viewers know that there are tons of questions that need to be answered after the major events of the second season. We don’t know everything about the next set of episodes, but we do have some very pertinent details to offer you right now. So, here’s what we currently know the final season. Read on, or better yet watch Sanditon Season 3 now.
What Is The Sanditon Season 3 Premiere Date?
As of this writing it has been nearly a year since we were able to catch up with Charlotte, Georgiana, the Parker family, and the many other denizens of the seaside town, so it’s great that PBS revealed in the December 2022 trailer (which we’ll talk about more in a bit) that the show will return on March 19, 2023! This means that fans can soon count on some romantic drama appointment viewing every Sunday night for several weeks. YES!
The Main Cast Is Returning
As with the second season (for the most part), fans can still count on watching all of their favorite characters be portrayed by the actors who’d brought them to life previously. Masterpiece noted that star Rose Williams’ Charlotte Heywood will be joined once again by Crystal Clarke’s similarly independent Georgiana Lambe, and additional players Ben Lloyd-Hughes (Alexander Colbourne), Eloise Webb (his niece, Augusta), and Flora Mitchell (Alexander’s daughter, Leonora) will all return.
We’ll also see Cai Brigden come back to portray Charlotte’s new fiancé Ralph Starling, Jack Fox is back as deplorable schemer Edward, as is Anne Reid as his rich aunt, Lady Denham. Plus, the Parkers are back, as Turlough Convery, Kate Ashfield, and Kris Marshall are on board to give fans more time with Arthur, Mary, and Tom, respectively. Also, after a couple of appearances in Season 1, Sophie Winkleman will return as Lady Susan.
There Will Be Several New Characters And Cast Members
Sanditon’s second season brought us new characters that we could both love and (eventually) hate, and Season 3 is set with its own group of newcomers who’ll treat us to even more never before seen characters. In December 2022, PBS announced that “quintessential Austen mother” Lady Montrose (Emma Fielding of Cranford and Van der Valk) will arrive, looking to finally make marriage matches for her two children. Those siblings will come along with mommy dearest, and we’ll watch yet another independent young lady, Lydia (Alice Orr-Ewing from This Is Going To Hurt and Andor), fight against her mother’s plans, as her “charismatic and confident” brother, Harry (Edward Davis, Detective Pikachu, Emma.), holds on to some kind of secret.
Additionally, the town will see “wealthy, curmudgeonly investor” Rowleigh Pryce (played by New Tricks star James Bolam) look to team up with Tom on Sanditon’s expansion, as Alexander’s “charming bachelor” of a younger brother, Samuel Colbourne (Liam Garrigan of Once Upon a Time and 24: Live Another Day) comes to stay a while. It certainly sounds like we might see at least a few of these newbies stir up some intriguing romantic prospects, if not some outright trouble!
You Can Watch The Trailer Now!
If you’re just dying to get any hint of the romance and conflict that our beloved townsfolk will have to deal with in Season 3, you are lucky indeed, as a trailer for the upcoming episodes was released on March 1, 2023 to help us all get ready. Take a look!
Sweeping vistas, gorgeous frocks, dramatic voice overs, and lots of tortured looks from our cast of characters…What more could a fan want from Sanditon?!
Season 3 Will See A Newly Engaged Charlotte Return To Sanditon
One of the major shocks of the Season 2 finale happened in the last moments, when Charlotte announced to some of her friends that she’d accepted the proposal of young farmer Ralph Starling, who she knows from her hometown in Willingden. Though Charlotte’s portrayer, Rose Williams, admitted she didn’t like her character’s decision at all, we will be faced with a third season that sees the young woman return to Sanditon with her fiancé right by her side.
PBS Masterpiece noted that Charlotte comes back to help her good friend Georgiana celebrate her 21st birthday, which leads to an (understandably) “awkward reunion” for the newly engaged lady and the man she’d grown so close to in Season 2, Alexander Colbourne (whose portrayer spoke about his moody character’s own upsetting finale choice). Fans can also expect to see Georgiana “called on to meet a startling new challenge,” that will see her get “support from unlikely sources,” and I simply cannot wait to see what that’s going to involve!
PBS Masterpiece’s EP Teased The ‘Wit’ And ‘Romance’ Of Season 3
Just from watching the trailer and hearing a bit about the story for the third season, it does seem like viewers are in store for another set of episodes filled with love, major choices, and everything else we’ve enjoyed about the show all along. At the TCA’s Winter Press Tour in January 2023, Masterpiece’s executive producer, Susanne Simpson, was asked by Decider if she thought fans would be pleased with Season 3, and she replied:
Here’s what I would say: That of all the Sanditon seasons, this is my favorite one. That I think it has all the wit and all the joy of what’s expected from Jane Austen. A lot of romance. So I think the audience is going to love this season as much as I do.
Say no more. I’m on board!
Georgiana Will Have A “Quest” In Season 3
Well, poor Georgiana has been through it on Sanditon across two seasons, hasn’t she? The heiress has lost both of her parents, and also lost her guardian, Sidney, and two loves before the age of 21. Season 1 saw her first love, Otis, inadvertently lead her to be kidnapped, and in Season 2, the lovelorn lady nearly fell for the advances of artist Charles Lockhart, who was actually a relative of her father’s who tried to leave her penniless by claiming rightful ownership to her inheritance.
According to Sanditon head writer, Justin Young, who chatted with Salon about the new season in April 2022, Season 3 will continue Georgiana’s story of self-discovery, now that she realizes that her mother (who was a slave on her father’s sugar plantation) could actually still be alive:
What you'll see in Season 3 is Georgiana now on a quest to find out where her mother is, and who is her mother. That comes back to who is she and where does she stand in the world? And how is she going to define herself?
Georgiana spent a lot of time in the second season trying to reconcile being the child of a slave and a slave owner, who also gained her massive wealth from a business that uses slave labor, so I can’t wait to see how looking for her mother will lead her to figure out who she is and her place in the world.
The Upcoming Season Will Have Six Episodes
This could, I suppose, be seen as a bit of a bummer, but Justin Young also confirmed to Salon that the romantic drama has continued its Season 2 trajectory by creating six episodes for the upcoming season. Those who watched the first season were treated to eight episodes, but we all know that six new episodes is better than none at all. As anyone who saw Season 2 can attest, the writers are more than capable of delivering a number of stunning twists and swoon-worthy romances in that amount of time.
It Filmed Back To Back With Season 2
One of the reasons there was no need to fear that there’d be another extensive wait between seasons, as there was between Seasons 1 and 2, is that, as Newsweek confirmed, the third season was filmed back to back with Season 2. This makes sense, considering that it was renewed for a third season in the spring of 2021, when the second season was announced. Not only that, but with filming for the upcoming episodes taking place from July through December 2021, Season 3 was finished with principal photography (and, likely, post-production) long ago, so everything is completely on track for the March 19 premiere.
Charlotte’s Story And The Series Will Be Finished With Season 3
Now, for a question: Will Sanditon be done after Season 3? Though the drama’s executive producer, Belinda Campbell, did confirm to Deadline that the end of Season 3 would, indeed, be the end of Charlotte Heywood’s journey, PBS also revealed in December 2022 that the third outing is the last we will see of our beloved town filled with assorted romantics and Machiavellian meddlers. As Susanne Simpson told Masterpiece:
Sanditon has been an incredibly special series for Masterpiece, and we know it has found its way into the hearts of countless fans. While we are sad to say goodbye to the series, we know our audience has a lot to look forward to in this new season.
I know! It’s sad to hear, but it does make a lot of sense. This way, everyone’s story will have a complete beginning, middle, and end. Whether this means that Charlotte will continue to move on from Sidney by finding a way out of her shocking engagement (and hopefully letting sweet-seeming Farmer Ralph down easy) and back to her new love, Alexander, or not, we’ll just have to wait and see.
As Campbell also noted to Masterpiece, fans should expect a season “full of the heart and joyful spirit that viewers will connect with,” so I have high hopes that they’ll be able to find an intriguing way to end the story of the small seaside town filled with a number of characters we love, and love to hate. Until the series premieres, be sure to check out the 2023 TV schedule to see what you can watch in the meantime!
