Wolf Hall‘s second season, The Mirror and the Light, has only just kicked off its US run, and already some fans are wondering if we’ll get a third. So, will there be a Wolf Hall Season 3, or will Season 2 mark the end of Thomas Cromwell’s story?
Is Wolf Hall Getting a Season 3?
No, Wolf Hall Season 3 isn’t happening. And for good reason, too: the show’s run out of books to adapt! Author Hilary Mantel presented her revisionist retelling of Thomas Cromwell’s life as a trilogy of novels: Wolf Hall, Bring Up the Bodies, and The Mirror and the Light. Season 1 covered Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies, while Season 2 is devoted entirely to The Mirror and the Light.
What’s more, Mantel died in 2022 – ruling out the possibility of any further tomes charting the remainder of Henry VIII’s reign. Of course, neither of these blockers is insurmountable. Another popular historical drama, FX’s Shōgun, is pushing ahead with more seasons without any source material to draw on. But there’s currently no indication that the same will happen with Wolf Hall.
Why Wolf Hall Season 2 Nearly Didn’t Happen
To hear Wolf Hall director Peter Kosminsky tell it, getting Season 2 off the ground was hard enough as it is. In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Kosminsky revealed that The Mirror and the Light was nearly canceled six weeks before production started. So, to get things back on track, Kosminsky, star Mark Rylance, screenwriter Peter Straughan, and one of the show’s executive producers all agreed to hefty pay cuts.
Kosminsky also confirmed that Wolf Hall‘s creative team weighed up abandoning Season 2 after Mantel’s death. “If it hadn’t been for the support of the BBC and Masterpiece at that point, when our morale was pretty low, I think there might’ve been a different outcome,” he said.
Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light is currently airing on PBS Masterpiece, with new episodes dropping Sundays.