Aziz Ansari says that season 3 of Master of None sounds like a terrible idea on paper. With the first season coming in 2015, the Netflix series follows the personal and professional life of Dev Shah (Ansari), a struggling 30-year-old actor in New York City. Alan Yang created, wrote, and produced the series all alongside Ansari, who directed 11 episodes and even won a Golden Globe for his performance as Dev. The series also stars Eric Wareheim, Lena Waithe, and Kelvin Yu as Dev’s close friends, along with Noël Wells and Alessandra Mastronardi as Dev's romantic interests.
The first two seasons of Master of None aired on Netflix to much acclaim, netting Ansari, Yang, and Waithe Emmy Awards for writing. Yet, when an allegation of sexual misconduct against Ansari surfaced on the website Babe.net in 2018, many doubted if a third season of the show would ever happen. Late last month it was unexpectedly announced that another season of Master of None was on the way, with a release date sooner than expected on May 23. However, there is one major caveat: Dev will no longer be the main focus. Instead, season 3 will follow Waithe’s character Denise and her spouse Alicia (Naomi Ackie) as they attempt to have a child.
In a behind-the-scenes featurette, Ansari says that on paper, season 3 of Master of None sounds like a "terrible idea." The upcoming season will officially be titled, Master of None Presents: Moments in Love, and will find Waithe stepping into the lead role alongside The Rise of Skywalker’s Naomi Ackie as her spouse. However, Ansari wasn’t always confident in the show's dramatic shift. Here’s what Ansari had to say about the upcoming season, per IndieWire:
On paper, everything sounds like a terrible idea. Oh, I’m not going to be in the show anymore! We’re going to hold on them doing laundry for three minutes! It was a little bit scary because it’s not what we had done before. But the first time we read it where it wasn’t just me reading with Lena but another woman reading with her, it was just like, ‘Woah, this is going to work. This is going to be cool.'
Master of None has undergone drastic changes before, as the second season saw Dev relocate to Italy to learn how to make pasta. Yet, season 3 looks to be an entirely new kind of series, and it remains to be seen if the show can generate the same level of interest from viewers who fell in love with Dev's storyline, especially after season 2 ended on such an ambiguous note regarding his relationship with Francesca (Mastronardi).
Ansari directed all five episodes of season 3 and co-wrote them along with Waite. The duo previously won an Emmy for writing the season 2 episode, “Thanksgiving,” which was lauded as one of the best episodes of the show. Since this episode was very Denise-centric, it is likely a taste of what is to come in season 3, a positive sign for Master of None: Moments in Love.
Source: IndieWire