Warning: Spoilers lie ahead for Only Murders in the Building season 3, episodes 1 and 2!
With the show expanding to a slightly new location, co-creator and executive producer John Hoffman as a hopeful update on Only Murders in the Building's future after season 3. Co-created by Hoffman and star Steve Martin, the murder mystery comedy centers on three neighbors who share a love of true crime podcasts and create their own while trying to solve mysterious deaths within their apartment building. Also led by Martin Short and Selena Gomez, season 3 finds the group investigating the murder of a Broadway actor starring in a show directed by Short's Oliver.
In anticipation of the show's return, Screen Rant spoke exclusively with John Hoffman for Only Murders in the Building season 3. When asked about the murder mystery's future and his vision for it, the show's co-creator/executive producer expressed feeling that the show has "a good long life" ahead of it, and hopes to return for multiple seasons. See what Hoffman explained below:
As many as they'll have us for! I really mean it. This is one of those shows [where] everyone involved in it is so happy doing it – and I know I speak for the trio and everyone else. When you have lightning in a bottle in this way, and then there's this magnetizing force of incredible talent who say, "Wow, that looks like fun. I would love to be a part of that." I hope it gives it a good long life. I think sometimes I do recognize a certain question that comes with this premise. Well, I hope season 3 points to [how], and I have many other ideas for how to... If anything, my banner over this whole show [is that] when you look at the poster right from season 1, and you see Steven Martin, Martin Short, and Selena Gomez? It’s unexpected. And so that, I think, holds a lot under it that could have it for a long life. Who knows, though? I genuinely don't know.
Editor's Note: This piece was written during the 2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes, and the show covered here would not exist without the labor of the writers and actors in both unions.
How Only Murders in the Building Can Keep Reinventing Itself
Only Murders in the Building season 3 marks an important chapter in the show's story as it picked up from the season 2 cliffhanger in which Paul Rudd's Ben seemingly died on stage on the opening night of Oliver's new play, seemingly marking the first major murder outside of Charles, Mabel and Oliver's building. The season 3 premiere would pull a double fake-out on viewers as it was revealed Ben was successfully revived at the hospital, only to be subsequently thrown down the elevator shaft at the Arconia and killed.
While it may have brought death back to their apartment, the shift towards a Broadway setting has proven an interesting shift in Only Murders in the Building's new direction, especially as Ben initially shared no real ties to any of the central trio, unlike Mabel's personal ties to season 1's Tim and all of their ties to annoying neighbor Bunny. Season 3, episode 2 would flip this notion, though, as it was revealed Charles got Ben fired from Brazzos as a child actor and Ben's movies helped Mabel cope with her father's death, making it personal for them both to find his killer.
Even with this return to a personal formula, Only Murders in the Building season 3 has finally established a wide range of potential suspects who don't live in the Arconia, almost completely putting Charles, Mabel and Oliver out of their typical element. With the new season also establishing health problems for Oliver and Mabel potentially leaving the Arconia, the evolution of its central trio could lead to further changes for the show as a whole that keeps things feeling fresh for seasons to come.
New episodes of Only Murders in the Building season 3 air Tuesdays on Hulu!