Netflix's Santa Clarita Diet premieres its second season on March 23 and it looks like viewers are in for more suburban (and accidental zombie) adventures of the Hammond family. Once you're done marathoning Season 2, you'll definitely be craving to know when Santa Clarita Diet will return for Season 3. As of now, Netflix hasn't publicly announced a third season renewal for the comedy series yet — but it may not be far away. UPDATE: The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed Season 3 will air in 2019.
EARLIER: If Netflix does renew the comedy, it's likely that Season 3 would premiere sometime next Spring. Season 1 bowed on Feb. 3, 2017 on the streaming service and Season 2 will be available for streaming on March 23. And spring seems like a fitting time for the comedy, which takes place in sunny Santa Clarita, California, and featuring the normal, suburban Hammond family — you know, aside from the fact that Sheila Hammond (played by Drew Barrymore) craves the taste of human flesh.
In an interview with Variety published on March 16, Olyphant and Barrymore expressed their interest in continuing with the series in a cute exchange. When asked about the status of Santa Clarita Diet Season 3, the actors told the publication:
Olyphant: I’m free.
Barrymore: I’m available and eager. I’m foaming at the mouth. Otherwise, I’m just working on my businesses for Flower.
Olyphant: This is it for me. I like this job. If I can figure it out, I’ll call it a day.
Barrymore: If this show went on for a long time, that would be the most comforting thing in the world.
So it sounds like Joel and Sheila's portrayers on are board, in the case that Netflix decides to keep Santa Clarita Diet on the menu for another season. The second season of the series begins right where Season 1 left off, with Sheila chained in the basement and Joel being committed to a mental hospital. In Season 1, the Hammonds balanced their real estate business, nosy neighbors, and Sheila's brand new, ahem, bloody diet. Sheila and her husband, realtor Joel (Timothy Olyphant) tried to sustain a sense of normalcy in their lives for themselves and their teenage daughter Abby. The family even got pretty close to finding a cure for Sheila's undead cravings.
But according to the Santa Clarita Diet Season 2 trailer, it looks like Sheila's diet will be bloodier than ever. After all, if there were a cure, would there be further seasons? Probably not.
Olyphant told Variety that fans shouldn't get their hopes up for a cure for Sheila's undead condition. "I don’t want to give anything away, but I don’t see a cure coming," he told Variety. "I only see things getting worse ... We’re also trying to get to the bottom of how this thing happened to her and hopefully preventing it from happening to someone else."
Barrymore hinted in the Variety interview that Sheila's undeadness could possibly have happened to someone else out there, too. This aspect of the series could be fun to explore in Season 2, as well as Season 3.
According to Vanity Fair, Barrymore said she wants viewers to focus on the show's big picture than just the blood and brains of it all. “This is not a horror-genre show,” Barrymore told the publication. “It’s about a family that is trying to make daily life work...I like seeing a show about a surviving team and family. We’re in a decaying society of people not being able to make it work, so this show offers some optimism.”
So it sounds like fans of Santa Clarita Diet should stay optimistic for a third season of more suburban undead hijinks with Sheila, Joel, Abby, and the rest of Santa Clarita.
