Hot Tempered: ‘Barry’ Star Bill Hader Teases Even Darker Season 3

Barry stars Bill Hader and Henry Winkler
HBO

Welcome to the 2022 Hot List, our 31 reasons our screens are sizzling right now, including the new NCIS boss, the return of Bridgerton, and our current favorite action series: Reacher!

We’ve waited three years for the fallout from that final whispery confession in HBO’s thriller dramedy Barry. Season 2 ended with acting teacher Gene Cousineau (Henry Winkler) being told his seemingly mild-mannered student Barry (Bill Hader, far left, with Winkler) had killed Gene’s lover. Can the former assassin shake free of his trigger-happy ways in Season 3? Don’t bet on it.

When the story picks up six months later, “Things aren’t going well for anybody,” says Hader, also a series creator. Barry’s “trying to get some sort of redemption for himself. But what he’s finding is there are these consequences he didn’t really think about.”

And how did Gene react to the shocking news? Our guess is not well. “Henry did tell me Season 3 was the most intense work he’s ever done,” Hader notes of the eight episodes. (A fourth season is in the works.) “He doesn’t like to go dark that much.”

Sounds like he has no choice. “Yeah, even more bad things happen this season,” Hader previews. “[Some good but] mostly bad.” That’s good: With Barry, the badder things get, the better it is.

Barry, Season 3 Premiere, Sunday, April 24, 10/9c, HBO