Fans are desperate to know when Kin season 3 might be on our screens following the cliffhanger ending to the second instalment of the Irish crime drama.
The RTÉ show following the Kinsella family's growing drug empire proved a ratings winner at home and abroad, with the second season earning a place in the top five most-watched shows when it landed on the BBC iPlayer in February 2024.
Written by Peter McKenna, the crime drama, which boasts a cast including the likes of Aidan Gillen (The Wire), Ciarán Hinds (Game of Thrones) and Charlie Cox (Daredevil), has also proved popular with AMC+ viewers in America and Canada.
Following the release of the second season in Ireland in 2023 there had been rumours that the show may not be returning for a third season, yet recent reports suggest we might yet be back for another chapter.
Here's everything we know about Kin season 3 so far...
Will there be a Kin season 3?
The most recent update on this came in September 2024, when Emmett J Scanlan, who plays Jimmy Kinsella, hinted that while a third season hadn't been commissioned, there was plenty of interest in it from several broadcasters following its success on the iPlayer.
"I don't know if there's going to be season three. It hasn't been greenlit yet," he said during an appearance on ITV's This Morning.
"There is a little bit of a – I don't know if I'm stepping out of line when I say this – maybe even a bidding war.
"But there is a lot of interest in it. I hope it comes back again. I would love to take on the role of Jimmy again. I'd love to."
That follows on from an announcement in August 2023 from the show's Irish broadcaster, RTÉ, saying they hoped the show would be back soon..
"RTÉ would very much like Kin to return and continues to work with our international partners to make it happen. We hope to have a further update in relation to season 3 in the coming months."
It was a statement that assuaged fans fears after the hit drama's production company, Bron Studios, filed for bankruptcy earlier that year.
It seems one of the most difficult aspects of making a third season is the contract situation regarding some of the show's leading stars.
“All the main actors signed three-year contracts in 2020 to appear in Kin, but it’s now 2024 and those contract have run out," Turkish-Irish actor Sinan Sicimoglu, who played the owner of a pawn shop used by the Dublin crime family to launder their money in the hit show, told the Irish Sun.
“It might be difficult to get Charlie, Clare (Dunne) and Emmett (Scanlan), Sam (Keeley) or Maria (Doyle Kennedy) back on the same set. It must be tough for RTE because Kin is now such a massive hit for the BBC.”
Yet in early 2024, Emmett J. Scanlan told LADbible that season three was "very much alive".
"I know that we had the production company and the production company fell apart and stuff like that," he said. "So it's there for anybody to take, you know. I'd love it to be bought by somebody, the BBC, Netflix, anybody really, I'd just love to continue to tell the story and to finish it.
"So unfortunately, I don't have any, any solid views by that - that's not to say that the thing is, it's very much alive. And it's very much in people's consciousness and the more people that say, the more people that like it.
"And like I said, Britain have really, really embraced it, and that can only be a good thing. And that can only be a positive when we're talking about people possibility for season three, because I always speak for myself, I'm sure I speak for those as well that we'd love to get back on set and continue to tell this story, because we're quite proud of it to be honest.”
"I'm sure we're all hopeful that we get to continue the story or maybe even finish the story. It’s been an extraordinary ride."
In February an RTÉ spokesperson also told Radio Times: "All the partners are in discussions about a third series, but there is nothing to announce at the moment."
So fingers crossed we get some good news soon!
Kin season 3 possible release window
Despite some internet rumours that a third season had already been filmed and would be released later in 2024, it seems that's not the case.
Given the contract situation of all the show's main stars, it could take a while to get everyone back on a set together and given Charlie Cox's schedule on Daredevil: Born Again, some time in 2025 is the earliest a third season might be on our screens.
Whether a third series would premiere on RTÉ in Ireland, before coming to the BBC iPlayer and AMC+ in the states, as the previous two have done, remains to be seen. But if RTÉ did lose rights to the show, there would be no shortage of broadcasters willing to snap it up..
Kin season 3 plot
The second season of the hit crime drama revolved around Brendan Kinsella (Francis Magee) being released from prison and retaking control of the Kinsella crime family.
However his brash and confrontational approach won him few friends inside the organisation and the series ended with his younger brother Frank Kinsella (Aidan Gillen) marching into the Furry Bog to gun him down, before turning the gun on himself.
He arrived just seconds before Brendan's sons Michael (Charlie Cox) and Jimmy (Emmett J Scanlan) who were also planning to kill their father, after fearing he was about to go back to his old ways and abuse Michael's daughter.
Meanwhile, young Anthony Kinsella (Mark McKenna Jr) had just "plugged" Glen Wright (Ben Carolan) a hitman from a rival gang who'd killed his brother Jamie, yet been involved in a hit-and-run afterwards.
Elsewhere, Amanda Kinsella (Claire Dunne) conspired with Turkish crime boss Nuray Batuk (Öykü Karayel) to take out her cousin Hamza (Kenan Ece) and forge a profitable new drug route after her cousin tried to take her out.
This growing trade with the Turks could prove a key plot line in a third season, yet Amanda may also face a battle to protect her family with the police sniffing around her son and Wright's family also out for vengeance...
We'd also be keen to see how the rekindling of Michael and Amanda's romance went down in the Kinsella family — and especially his brother Jimmy. And what happened to Molly the pharmacist (Danielle Galligan), who mysteriously disappeared towards the end of season three after a brief fling with Michael? Could there have been more to her than met the eye?
Kin season 3 cast
Eamon Cunningham (Ciarán Hinds) met his maker at the end of the first season, while Frank Kinsella (Aidan Gillen), Brendan Kinsella (Francis Magee) and a host of others were 'plugged' in second helping. Yet there are still plenty of our old favourites who could return for a third season, including...
- Charlie Cox as Michael Kinsella
- Clare Dunne as Amanda Kinsella
- Emmett J. Scanlan as Jimmy Kinsella
- Maria Doyle Kennedy as Bridget 'Birdy' Goggins
- Sam Keeley as Eric 'Viking' Kinsella
- Yasmin Seky as Nikita Murphy
- Mark Mckenna Jr as Anthony Kinsella
- Danielle Galligan as Molly
- Öykü Karayel as Nuray Batuk
Kin season 3 trailer
With filming yet to begin, there's no trailer for this one yet. But we'll be sure to add it it here as soon as one lands.
