“Everything is awful,” we scream-sing at the top of our internal monologue lungs as we peruse headlines for hours on end, scouring the internet for any news that is “good” or even “fine.” We look up to the streaming gods and shout, “Save us!” and actually they’ve been pretty generous through this whole thing, so at least there’s that. Today, the benevolent powers-that-be at Hulu have smiled upon us once more, as Variety reports that Shrill has been renewed for a third season. The series, which debuted in 2018, is based on Lindy West’s memoir of the same name and stars SNL’s Aidy Bryant as Annie, a budding journalist working for a Portland alt-weekly. Throughout the first season, Annie navigates life, work, and a relationship with a non-committal guy while coming to grips with how society treats fat women—such as herself.
In its second season, which debuted in January, Shrill moved further away from West’s memoir, while also making Annie’s size less of a focus—a move that helped propel the narrative and further established Shrill’s mission: This is a series about a fat woman, but it is not about her being fat. The second season introduced new characters, like the non-binary Emily, played by non-binary actor Emily Fightmaster—a potential love interest for Annie’s roommate and best friend, Fran, played by Lolly Adefope. There was also a great episode that began exploring the personal life of Annie’s co-worker Ruthie, played by trans comedian Patti Harrison. Shrill is one of the greatest and maybe under-discussed shows on TV right now (the second season opens with Annie belting Celine Dion’s “It’s All Coming Back To Me Now” in her car and features John Cameron Mitchell singing David Bowie—how are you not watching this yet)—so yes, we will take this tiny morsel of good news and savor it for the rest of this pandemic-riddled day.