Why ‘Lady Dynamite’ Could Feel Like A Completely Different Show In Season 3

Maria Bamford's Lady Dynamite debuted on Netflix in early 2016 and is returning for a second set of episodes on Nov. 10. If Lady Dynamite returns for Season 3, it's almost certain that the series will continue to loosely and hilariously adapt Bamford's experiences in Hollywood and as a person with mental illness. The show has a non-linear timeline, frequently breaks the fourth wall, and tackles how difficult it's been for Bamford to navigate being a working performer. The series is so sharply written by creators Mitchell Hurwitz, Pam Brady, and the other writers, that eight new episodes don't seem like enough.

Netflix has yet to announce a third season of the wildly original comedy. And while Bamford has also yet to say anything definitive about returning for an additional season of Lady Dynamite, she hasn't ruled it out, either. In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Bamford did float the possibility of Lady Dynamite Season 3, but only in the context of how she struggled with the considerable time commitment of filming an entire TV show. "It’s a TV show which goes for like 15-hour days. It’s this thing that’s actually keeping you away from having your personal life," Bamford said to EW. "I do wonder about if there was a third season — who knows — but I might ask for children’s hours, which is a limit of 10 hours a day. I think the kids have it right!"

Bamford made similar sentiments to The AV Club. "I don’t really care about getting paid to feel terrible," she said about the grind of making TV. In her typically direct way, she also joked about the toll making the show takes on her specifically. "It’s hilarious because [Lady Dynamite] is about mental health and that [I was] kind of putting my mental health in danger in order to do a TV show about mental health. So, whoops," Bamford said."

But she told The AV Club in the same interview about a possible strategy moving forward that would alleviate some of that stress. "You know what I’d love? I’d love to grow the story lines of other people like Karen Grisham [played by Ana Gastyer] and Bruce Ben-Bacharach [played by Fred Melamed], and I’d love other characters to take over. I would love if Mo Collins would just take over the entire show," Bamford said. That's an intriguing idea, certainly — Lady Dynamite without its central character. But Bamford was quick to note that even with that idea percolating, nothing is determined yet. "I’d be interested in whatever it could become. I don’t know if there will be a third season," she told the outlet.

In fact, Lady Dynamite's deeply personal style makes it possible that the show itself is trying to tell the audience that there may be a long wait ahead. In Season 2, Bamford's onscreen persona joins the world of streaming TV, starring in her own original series, and, as you might expect, it has effects on show-Maria's life and relationships. Those plot developments could be hinting that there will be another extended break between seasons, or, as Bamford suggested in the aforementioned interviews, a creative change that makes Maria less central.

However, if Lady Dynamite returns, clearly Bamford would prefer to take things more slowly. And that could mean that there will be a longer delay between seasons this time. But given the subject matter of the show, the whole philosophy behind Lady Dynamite is that making great comedy and entertaining TV isn't worth compromising your own mental health. So with more balance behind the scenes, it does sound like Bamford would be willing to return to the autobiographical series at some point in the future.