The Cuphead Show season 3 hinted by developer after cliffhanger ending to S2

The Cuphead Show has just returned to Netflix for a second game, but will the hit animated series be renewed for season 3?

Video game – TV adaptations are a mixed bag and certainly a divisive topic for Netflix.

On the one hand, decided flops such as Resident Evil stand out amongst the likes of Castlevania, The Witcher and the recently-released Tekken: Bloodline series.

Thankfully, The Cuphead Show sits towards the more positive end of that range, having all of the humour, visual fidelity and excellent sound design that made the video game so popular.

Whilst the second season has just premiered on Netflix, fans are already curious as to whether The Cuphead Show will return for season 3 – here’s everything we know so far.

The Cuphead Show returns for second season on Netflix

The Cuphead Show was first announced in July 2019, with the series making its global OTT debut via Netflix in February 2022.

The series is produced by Netflix Animation, alongside King Features Entertainment and Studio MDHR – the team behind the main video games’ trailers.

This week, the hit animated video game adaptation finally returned for a second adventure, releasing a further 13 episodes from directors Adam Palioan and Clay Morrow:

• Episode 1 – “Jailbroken”
• Episode 2 – “Charmed & Dangerous”
• Episode 3 – “A High Seas Adventure”
• Episode 4 – “Another Brother”
• Episode 5 – “Sweet Temptation”
• Episode 6 – “The I Scream man”
• Episode 7 – “Piano Lesson”
• Episode 8 – “Release The Demons”
• Episode 9 – “Dead Broke”
• Episode 10 – “Rats All, Folks”
• Episode 11 – “Say Cheese”
• Episode 12 – “Lost In The Woods”
• Episode 13 – “The Devil’s Pitchfork”

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The Cuphead Show season 3 renewal status

Sadly, Netflix is yet to publicly confirm that The Cuphead Show season 3 is in production; however, there are several pieces of information that indicate that the adventure is not yet over.

The most obvious hint that a third season could be on the way is the major cliffhanger to the recently-released second season. In the final moments of episode 13, The Devil says that since Cuphead has taken something of great value from him, he will take something of great value from Cuphead.

To the horror of Cuphead and viewers alike…Mugman is taken by The Devil down to hell.

As the animated series is loosely based on the video game, fans know that it’s now up to Cuphead to rescue his brother – the third potential season cannot be set up any better than that.

Then we have the fact that season 3 was already being planned prior to the series’ first season debut, per an interview that developer Dave Wasson conducted with Animation Magazine in January 2022.

In the interview, Wasson shared that a total of 36 episodes had been ordered by Netflix, which would premiere in three separate drops, “presented as two- and even three-parters.”

“We were originally using the old theatrical shorts as a model for structure, but we found it was hard to stay within a seven-minute format. These stories wanted to be a little longer, so it caps off at something like 10 1/2 or 11 minutes, though each episode is a little different in running time.” – Dave Wasson, via Animation Magazine.

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However, whilst the initial plan was to have The Cuphead Show release three complete seasons, the renewal of the hit animated series will still be dependent on just how popular Netflix deems the title to be.

Despite some seriously impressive reviews from critics, the series is experiencing some rather mixed scores online including a 69% on MetaCritic, 7.4/10 on IMDB and 88% on Rotten Tomatoes.

Whilst the future remains positive for The Cuphead Show and the chances of season 3, the threat of Netflix’s axe still looms over the hit animated series.

Seasons 1-2 of The Cuphead Show are now streaming on Netflix.

By Tom Llewellyn – [email protected]

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