The Flight Attendant Not Returning for Season 3 — Read Kaley Cuoco’s Statement
The Flight Attendant will not ready itself for another takeoff: TVLine has learned that the acclaimed, Kaley Cuoco-led dramedic thriller is ending after two seasons on Max.
“What started out as an attention-grabbing book cover quickly evolved into an extraordinary flight of a lifetime,” Cuoco said in a statement. “I always envisioned TFA as a limited series and thanks to an incredible creative team, we were able to deliver two thrilling seasons. Personally, playing Cassie has been a dream come true and I am so grateful for everyone who played a part in bringing this extremely original series to life.”
Co-showrunner Steve Yockey added a statement as well: “The Flight Attendant was a true passion project and the reception from viewers and critics alike was pretty stunning. Our unorthodox spectacle of a show really found people. As we all move on to new projects, those two seasons of television and the incredible team of professionals behind them will always stay at the top of my list.”
The Flight Attendant’s freshman run spanned late November and December of 2020, and amassed nine total Emmy Award nominations — including nods for Outstanding Comedy Series, lead actress Cuoco (her first Emmy nom ever) and supporting actress Rosie Perez; it wound up grabbing gold for Original Main Title Theme Music. TVLine readers gave Season 1 an average grade of “A.”
Season 2 premiered in April 2022 and wrapped up on May 26, with no real teaser for any Season 3 (whereas Season 1 hinted at Cassie’s future as a CIA asset, and new twists in Megan’s arc). TVLine readers gave the season an average grade of “B+.”
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Explaining Season 2’s lack of any cliffhanger, Yockey told our sister site THR, “Some shows have the luxury of knowing when they’re coming back, and so they can cliffhang and leave crazy things. With us, it’s a case-by-case, so we’ll see.”
As for the series’ longterm longevity, Yockey said, “Our goal… is to make sure when we get to the end of each season, that could be the end; that people will feel satisfied and emotionally with her, where [Cassie is] off to next. So, I feel like as long as we could keep coming up with solid emotional stories to tell for her, I think we can keep coming up with crazy international incidents to put her in the middle of…. [O]ur goal is always to make sure at the end of each season, that it feels like, ‘OK, if that’s the end, then we feel good about it.'”
Following the Season 2 finale, Cuoco — who also stars in Peacock’s Based on a True Story and voices Max’s Harley Quinn — shared that she didn’t expect The Flight Attendant to return: “We did two — we should probably be done… I think for me, at this moment, the plane has landed.” But she didn’t rule out another season at a later date: “Some of my favorite shows on TV take some time to come back, and then I get very excited about a new season… It’s going to take a lot of thought to make sure if we go back that it’s better than the last two, which is very hard to do.”
Max, meanwhile, has been on a cancellation spree in recent weeks, dropping the axe on pirate comedy Our Flag Means Death, the Julia Child biopic series Julia and the Issa Rae-produced Rap Sh!t, all in the past month.
