Your Honor showrunner Joey Hartstone and lead actor Bryan Cranston have commented on the show's potential Season 3 release.
Cranston's legal drama Your Honor started life as a miniseries on Showtime in December 2020, only for Season 2 to eventually come in January 2023.
Speaking on Tales from Yaya's: The Your Honor Podcast in March 2023, showrunner Joey Hartstone addressed the chances of Season 3 ever being released.
While he was clear the decision is "above [his] pay grade," he remarked that he would be "happy to see it continue:"
"It's definitely above my pay grade. You know Season 1 ended and we thought that was going to be it. Obviously, there was a Season 2. I think the hope is always that a show will be successful and well-liked by its audience enough that there can be a future somehow. It's not my call but I would be happy to see it continue."
But what has been said in the past about Your Honor Season 3, and what does leading man Bryan Cranston think?
Cranston was heard on Dax Shepard's Armchair Expert podcast in June 2023 calling Season 2 "the second and last season of Your Honor:"
"I am [currently] preparing for the second and last season of Your Honor, which is a limited series that I did for Showtime. As they tell me, it got higher ratings than any other series they’ve ever had — and so, one more season of that."
He would later walk back these comments when speaking to Deadline at Contenders TV in April 2023, as he revealed "Showtime has indicated there is interest" in continuing Your Honor:
"My comment was I’m not sure that there could be or there is. There is some discussion. Showtime has indicated there is interest and we’re very proud to know that every episode in Season 2 increased in the audience from the previous week."
The Breaking Bad icon added how he would need to find a "great reason to keep expanding in this world." He also noted his interest in producing but not starring in a third season after his character went back to prison:
"If it happens, fantastic but it’d have to be some great reason to keep expanding in this world and to find out where the allegiances are. I’d be very interested in producing that. I don’t know about being in it because my guy’s back in prison."
Turning attention back to Hartstone and his appearance on Tales from Yaya's: The Your Honor Podcast, the showrunner also spoke on the Season 2 finale and how they closed out the drama's sophomore outing.
He addressed fan concerns about how the story could be concluded in time leading into the finale, noting how they "properly focused on the most important things" which meant that wasn't an issue:
"Yeah, it's funny because I saw a lot of people online talking like 'Okay, there's one episode left how are they going to wrap up all this stuff?' And it didn't feel like we had that much to do and I think, I hope, it was because we properly focused on the most important things which were Michael and Eugene."
He touched on the lack of "much optimism" in Your Honor and the outcome for the series leads of Michael and Eugene:
"I think you got like about as much optimism as you're going to get from this show which is Michael getting some sense of his life back and Eugene getting the best outcome he could hope for given the circumstances."
Hartstone added how the show kept its ending realistic in that "crime in New Orleans is not going to go away" so they opted to zone in on one of the series' key themes, "You can't have it all:"
"I mean all the criminals are not going to be in prison and all the crime in New Orleans is not going to go away and that would not feel in line with our show. So I think some people had to emerge on top and what we tried to do was sort of stay in line with one of the themes of the show which was that you can't have it all, so you have to be willing to make sacrifices."
The showrunner pointed out how this theme is explored in Your Honor as some of the main characters make major sacrifices to get "power:"
"Gina is willing to sacrifice a lot of what matters to her in order to get her power. And Big Mo was more poignantly willing to sacrifice something that meant a great deal to her in order to have her power. So I think in some way they have earned their positions even if they're somewhat sinister."
Will Your Honor Season 3 Happen?
While Your Honor has yet to be renewed for Season 3, the latest comments from both Joey Hartstone and Bryan Cranston are certainly promising for the chances.
For one, Hartstone and Cranston are clearly on board for more, even if the latter may be looking to take a step off-screen for Season 3. But with the key creative forces behind Your Honor seemingly advocating to continue exploring this world, the future may be left in the hands of the network, Showtime.
If Cranston is to be believed, Showtime was already expressing an interest in renewing Your Honor for Season 3 around the airing of the last season after seeing continued week-on-week success. But with over a year gone by and no word on a renewal, some fans may be starting to give up hope.
It's important to acknowledge that there were around two years between the Season 1 finale and Season 2 premiere. As such, the world of Your Honor may get revisited not in the immediate future, but a few years down the line.
Your Honor is available now on several streaming services including Netflix.