Donald Glover on Launching Atlanta Season 3 With a Standalone Episode

After 4 years off the air, “Atlanta” returned to FX with a darkly comedic episode that reminded viewers to count on the surprising.

Because the present started to air on the east coast Thursday night time, stars Donald Glover, Zazie Beetz, LaKeith Stanfield and Brian Tyree Henry posed collectively on the electrical blue carpet at Hollywood Endlessly Cemetery.

Glover advised Selection what thrilled him most about being reunited. “I believe being away made me understand how a lot I missed hanging out and writing with them,” he stated.

The Los Angeles screening adopted the present’s SXSW premiere, however when the foursome linked arms and stood earlier than the summary pictures of their characters’ faces, a clearer image of the present’s legacy got here into focus. “Atlanta” itself is summary artwork that paints with such broad strokes and brilliant colours that it’s not possible to characterize and leaves audiences barely off-balance at each flip.

“We simply needed to have enjoyable,” Glover stated teasing the brand new season and noting that probably the most essential component was that the execution really feel “cinematic.”

That may actually be stated for the season’s kick-off episodes. Season 2 left off with the crew — Earn (Glover), Alfred a.ok.a. “Paper Boi” (Henry) and Darius (Stanfield) — leaving Atlanta to tour Europe, with Van (Beetz) quickly to affix them. However, the introduction to Season 3, titled “Three Slaps,” follows a younger boy named Loquareeous (Christopher Farrar) in a plot that reimagines the tragic death of Devonte Hart. In 2014, {a photograph} went viral of the crying then-12-year-old Black boy hugging a white police officer throughout a Portland, Ore. protest towards police brutality. In 2018, his adopted mom, Jen Hart drove her spouse Sarah — each of whom have been white — in addition to Devonte and his 5 siblings — all youngsters of shade — off a cliff. It’s a jarring story, filled with allusions to different younger Black children who’ve change into social media stars for one motive or one other — and it’s not till the episode’s remaining minutes that Earn wakes up in Europe and we decide up the principle solid’s story.

The debut episode was written by Stephen Glover and directed by Hiro Murai, who hoped audiences could be “pleasantly shocked” by the re-introduction to the present.

“I’m certain there are people who find themselves offended additionally, however I don’t blame them,” Murai stated. “I believe individuals count on us to be stunning at this level, so I hope individuals benefit from the issues they didn’t count on from that first episode.”

He additionally defined why they didn’t instantly decide up with the core 4’s European journey. “In our coronary heart of hearts, we’re all contrarians and a bit of little bit of a troll,” Murai provided with a chuckle. “We simply knew that that’s what individuals needed, and in some methods, that’s what we needed to see too. However there’s one thing good about having to attend simply 35 minutes longer earlier than you bought to see it.”

Of taking the quartet abroad, Glover added: “Truthfully, we simply needed to indicate how ‘Atlanta’ is a viewpoint. It’s a metropolis, however it’s additionally simply what made me and my brother [Stephen Glover]; the viewpoint could be very particular. Additionally, that the world is form of predictable, like, you’re gonna see the identical issues.”

Whereas society at giant could be “predictable,” followers of the five-time Emmy-winning collection know that “Atlanta” is something however.

“It retains you in your toes, as a result of it’s actually within the second,” Stanfield commented concerning the opening half-hour. “It mirrors actual life in that means.”

Some would argue that followers waited lengthy sufficient to see this solid reunited. However, it’s not as if these actors have been sitting at residence twiddling their thumbs between seasons; in truth, all 4 of their stars shot into the stratosphere within the meantime.

The final episodes of Atlanta aired earlier than Glover debuted as Lando Calrissian in “Solo: A Star Wars Story” or voiced Simba in “The Lion King” and picked up 4 Grammys (as Infantile Gambino) for “This Is America.” Likewise, Stanfield went on a tear with “Uncut Gems,” “Knives Out” and “The {Photograph},” plus his Oscar-nominated efficiency in “Judas and the Black Messiah.” Beetz added “Deadpool 2,” “Joker” and “9 Days” to her credit, whereas Henry hit superhero standing with “Eternals,” “Widows” and “If Beale Avenue May Speak.” The co-stars have teamed up at occasions too. Stanfield and Beetz confronted off within the Western “The Tougher They Fall,” whereas Beetz and Henry each seem within the upcoming “Bullet Prepare.”

However reuniting for “Atlanta” felt particular — filmed overseas amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Henry recalled Glover chartering a jumbo jet to fly the solid to location.

“You had me, Keith, Donald and Steve on an enormous aircraft by ourselves,” Henry stated. “And for some motive, we nonetheless sat subsequent to one another. I used to be like, ‘We actually missed one another.’”

One other memorable second got here whereas filming a scene with the principle 4 solid members, strolling down the road heading to a celebration. The present was filming in a neighborhood that was on lockdown due the pandemic, so that they had a captive viewers.

“Once we have been filming, these households have been leaning out of the home windows, [holding] glasses of wine,” Henry stated. “There have been white individuals in dashikis, so I used to be like, ‘What’s going on?’ And each time we did a take, they’d applaud. It was good to really feel that love from throughout the pond.”

So far as Alfred’s journey goes this season, Henry teased that the character is “elevated” as he begins to expertise extra success as a rapper.

“You guys have seen him undergo a lot. And I believe that this season, you get to have a good time him and he will get to have a good time himself … he’s reaping the spoils of, and he’s going for it,” Henry stated. “Now, there’s nonetheless dumb shit that’s gonna occur to him — and that occurs with fame and profiles rising, however there’s one thing completely different about him. He’s simply a lot extra snug in his pores and skin, and he’s a lot extra keen to take individuals alongside for the trip and he appears to be extra grounded.”

Stanfield’s Darius however remains to be up within the clouds.

“I’m at all times shocked by what Darius is as much as, I believe — like many individuals,” the actor stated of slipping again into the function. “It was simply enjoyable to consider what he could be to date and verify in with him. And it was cool to see what he was on. He’s at all times rising and increasing.”

Beetz teased a juicy arc for Van, saying this season exhibits the character’s “reflection on her identification as a mom, as a girl, as a companion, and it’s form of only a special approach and tackle on that narrative.”

However with two seasons within the can — the fourth and remaining season of “Atlanta” will premiere within the fall — it’s an finish of an period for the actors. On the electrical blue carpet, Henry and Beetz each sported gold necklaces with their characters’ names on them. Wrapping the present was emotional, Beetz admitted, however, “As a result of all of us knew that Season 3 and 4 have been going to be the top, as we have been taking pictures it, we have been capable of form of have closure with it.” That finality pushed the actors “to do what we actually needed with the characters, to take the dangers we needed to take, as a result of we knew that was going to be it.”

As a lot because it affected their work on display screen, it additionally filtered into their interpersonal relationships behind the scenes. The troupe actually “leaned into one another,” Beetz stated and, in the end, “I believe we had form of a satisfying finish, and now it belongs to the world and I’m simply going to have a good time.”

“Atlanta” airs Thursdays on FX and streams the following day on Hulu.