Fleabag has been one of the most unexpected hits. Ever since the finale of Fleabag’s Second season, the show has left fans wondering whether they’ll get to see the Fleabag Season 3 or not.
Recently, the ever so talented Fleabag creator Phoebe Waller-Bridge was snapped by Amazon, signing a deal for new television content set to premiere exclusively on Amazon Prime. Is this new content related to Fleabag? Will the fans get a third season anytime soon? Here’s everything we got to know.
What did Phoebe Waller Bridge have to say?
Sadly, Waller-Bridge is done with the character and the show in general, which concluded with a bittersweet ending. However, she gave a reasonable explanation on why the fans are not getting Fleabag Season 3, she doesn’t have a new angle for the fourth wall breaks. Being charismatic enough, Phoebe Waller-Bridge is constantly able to break the fourth wall in Fleabag, directly staring at the camera and communicating with the viewer, almost like Kevin Spacey in The House of Cards.
These fourth wall breaks are what made Fleabag so unique yet interesting. It was almost intrusive, as if the viewers are peeking in and getting a look at the character’s soul and deteriorating mental health, which the other characters in the show often over looked. Her friends couldn’t see the sad face behind the smile, but we could.
In an interview with the Hollywood Reporter, Waller-Bridge further said, “… at the beginning, she invites you in with total confidence that she can convince you that she’s absolutely fine, hilarious, and is having a brilliant life. But by the end, she’s let the camera is too close and she wants to push you away. Then at the very end of the first season, I don’t look at the camera anymore after my confession. That relationship is dead.”
Season 2 was not pre planned.
Initially, Waller Bridge thought if concluding the show with only one season, by breaking the relationship between her and the audience. However, a flash of new inspiration gave her the idea about season 2, where the fourth wall gets broken by not just her character but also another important character.
While talking about season 2, she said, “Firstly, the camera knows her secrets, so the relationship with how I look at the camera is going to be different; and then, secondly, the idea of somebody else seeing it and what that would mean for her. Once I had that idea I was excited, and then I felt like I could start writing again.”
Season 2 proved to be even better than the first instalment, the idea of an intruder constantly entering and breaking the fourth wall is nothing short of intriguing. It was the unique and fresh take of Andrew Scott’s “hot priest” noticing her constant distraction, much to her discomfort, that made the audience resonate even more.
The priest is the only character who can see through Fleabag, and this intrusion reaches its peak during a surreal scene where both characters stare at the camera together, at the same time, leaving the audience feeling just as uncomfortable as Waller-Bridge’s character.
Why it is better that Fleabag Ended at it’s peak
Waller-Bridge has done a spectacular job in developing the concept of a one-woman play then developing the concept into two spectacular seasons of television.
After winning a fair share of Emmys Waller Bridge said, “Even though it’s so nice to hear that so many people loved it, it’s like, ‘Oh dammit, maybe I shouldn’t have waved goodbye.’ [But] it does feel like the story is complete… it does feel right to go out on a high. It doesn’t get higher than this. It feels like the perfect way to say goodbye.”
We should be grateful for this decision as most shows do not end at their peak and see themselves become the villain (Friends), something as well made and thought out as Fleabag should go with all it’s glory.
Nevertheless, we might get a 3rd Season in the future, Waller-Bridge expressed her desires by saying, “I feel like it’s done, but I do have a fantasy of bringing her back when I’m, like, 45 or 50. She went on the biggest journey over the past two seasons, and she started as someone who sorts of hated herself and ended up as someone believing that she could love again and forgive herself. I have to respect that arc and let her go and live for a bit.” It is thus clear by her statement that while Fleabag season 3 might happen one day, it is not happening anytime so
