It’s been nearly three years since a new episode of Donald Glover’s critically acclaimed FX series Atlanta aired, but that will be rectified sooner rather than later. Glover and Co. were getting ready to shoot Seasons 3 and 4 back-to-back last year before the pandemic hit and scuttled their plans, but production is now back on track to begin this spring, once again filming two seasons one right after the other.
Per THR, Atlanta will begin production in March and the plan is still to shoot Season 3 and Season 4 back-to-back in an effort to get new episodes on the air as quickly as possible. Indeed, Season 1 debuted back in 2016, but due to Glover’s busy schedule and insistence on making the show as good as it can be, Season 2 didn’t return to the airwaves until March 2018. But by renewing the series for two seasons at once, FX is now able to bank Season 4 so it can air not too long after Season 3.
But there’s another twist to this Atlanta news. THR reports that Glover has exited his overall deal with FX in favor of setting up a new, multiple-year, eight-figure overall deal with Amazon. This comes on the heels of the news that Glover is co-creating and co-starring in a Mr. And Mrs. Smith series for the streaming service with Phoebe Waller-Bridge, which is just one of many projects he now has in the works at Amazon. His brother, Stephen Glover – a writer, producer, and major creative voice on Atlanta – has also signed an overall deal with Amazon.
The deal will include not only projects for Glover to write, produce, and/or star in, but also a channel of sorts that will spotlight his work on the Amazon Prime Video hub. He’s reportedly already in the early stages of developing a series he’ll executive produce called Hive that revolves around a Beyonce-like figure and hails from writer Janine Nabers.
As for how this Amazon deal with effect Atlanta, THR reports that there will be no impact, and although the FX series has not been renewed beyond Season 4, Glover’s contract with Amazon is said to have a “carve-out” that allows him to work on Atlanta beyond Season 4 if that’s something he wants to do.