After earning 10s across the board for its first two season, FX’s Pose is going to make just one final walk down the runway. Today, the premium cabler announced that the third season of its groundbreaking series, which was co-created by Steven Canals, Ryan Murphy, and Brad Falchuk, will be its last. (FX also shared the season-three premiere date, which is May 2, but we’re still hung up on the news that this is Pose’s last season).
Since it premiered in 2018, Pose has told an incredibly moving and beyond stylish story about found family and the New York City ballroom community. Set in 1987 and 1988, the first season of the Peabody- and GLAAD Media Award-winning series saw ball culture flourish, even as many of its originators remained marginalized—sometimes even within the LGBTQ+ community. Trans women like Blanca (MJ Rodriguez) and Angel (played by nonbinary trans actor Indya Moore) were the most vulnerable, but also often the most vibrant performers. The imperious Elektra (Dominique Jackson) was a rival and a friend, while the scene-stealing Pray Tell (Emmy winner Billy Porter) narrated—and judged–all the drama. Season two moved into the early ’90s, when ball culture entered the mainstream with Madonna’s “Vogue,” though not to the benefit of its progenitors. And still, the focus of Canals’ writing was on the joy of these characters’ existence—along with collaborators like Janet Mock and The Lady J, the series co-creator refused to let the members of House Of Evangelista and House Wintour be defined by tragedy.
In a statement shared with FX, Canals said “Write the TV show you want to watch!’ That’s what I was told in 2014 while completing my MFA in screenwriting. At the time we weren’t seeing very many Black and Latinx characters—that happened to also be LGBTQ+—populating screens. And so I wrote the first draft of a pilot the ‘younger me’ deserved. Pose was conceived as a love letter to the underground NY ballroom community, to my beloved New York, to my queer & trans family, to myself.” He continued:
I, along with my incredible collaborators, never intended on changing the TV landscape. I simply wanted to tell an honest story about family, resilience, and love. How fortunate am I to have done that for three seasons. I’m filled with gratitude to our intrepid writers, cast, crew, and producers who worked tirelessly to make Pose come to life, humbled by our loyal audience, thankful to the ballroom community who trusted us to tell their story, overwhelmed by the critics who warmly embraced us, and forever indebted to Ryan Murphy, FX, and 20th Television for changing my life.”
Canals, who wrote and directed on the series, also shared this video message from the set of Pose season three:
There’s still a whole season left to devour (in weekly increments, alas) beginning May 2, so we will try to embody the spirit of Pose and focus on celebrating what’s to come.