Overview
How do you take something great and make it even better? Add goats. That probably doesn't apply in every situation, but it certainly seems to with HBO comedy Barry and its long-awaited third season — at least if the just-dropped new trailer is anything to go by.
All killer, no filler: when it comes to this Bill Hader-starring gem, that notion firmly applies. The premise is pure TV gold, following an assassin who'd rather be an actor, but finds it hard to cut ties with his murderous gig. Making it even better is the pitch-perfect casting of former Saturday Night Live great Hader, of course, who has never been better than he is playing the eponymous hitman here.
The setup: when Hader's Barry Berkman heads from Cleveland to Los Angeles for his job, he discovers a previously unknown passion for acting after he stumbles into a class held by veteran thespian Gene Cousineau (Henry Winkler, The French Dispatch). The catch? Barry kills people for money, and that isn't a line of work that you can leave easily, especially when you become caught in the Chechen mafia's violent and deadly dramas.
As SNL fans will already know, Hader is an on-screen treasure. He's truly something else in this part-comedy, part-tragedy series. Barry's struggle mightn't seem that relatable on paper, but it proves exactly that with Hader in the role. Also excellent is Winkler, expectedly. And, similarly great is Bill & Ted Face the Music's Anthony Carrigan as Chechen gangster Noho Hank — who befriends Barry, isn't that skilled at the whole crime business and quickly becomes one of the most memorable characters to ever grace a TV series.
It's no wonder that fans have been hanging out for the third season of this Emmy-winner, which finally arrives in April — on Monday, April 25 in Australia via Binge, in fact — after a three-year gap since season two. Based on both the initial teaser trailer and this new sneak peek, Barry's quest to go on the straight and narrow — and pursue acting — is still as chaotic as ever. In fact, this season will focus on the other factors, including his own psyche, that saw Barry become a killer to begin with. Another big part of the new episodes, according to HBO: fellow characters trying to make the right choices.
Also returning are Stephen Root (The Tragedy of Macbeth) as Barry's former handler Monroe, who is in hiding; Sarah Goldberg (The Night House) as Barry's girlfriend Sarah, who is also an actor; D'Arcy Carden (The Good Place) as a fellow acting student; and Sarah Burns (Werewolves Within) as Detective Mae Dunn.
And Hader isn't just phenomenally excellent on-screen in Barry — he also co-created it, has directed a heap of episodes, and also co-wrote others.
Check out the full trailer for Barry season three below:
Barry's third season will start streaming via Binge in Australia and Neon in New Zealand from Monday, April 25.
Images: Peter Iovino and Merrick Morton/HBO.