Bonding returned to Netflix for its second season in January and was a much-improved show the second time around.
It ended with the characters in a very different place in their lives and that opens up a lot of doors for Bonding Season 3.
Here is everything we know so far about Bonding Season 3.
This article provides everything that is known about Bonding Season 3 and all related news. As such, this article will be updated over time with news, rumors, and analysis. Meanwhile, let’s dig down into what is known so far.
Is there going to be a Season 3 of Bonding?
The second season of Bonding hit Netflix on January 27, 2021, which means it will likely be another month before Netflix announces whether it will get a third season.
Netflix bases its renewals on two things — the viewing numbers for the first seven days of the series and the total watches for the first 30 days. That second number was for last week, so Netflix will likely now crunch the numbers to see if the show’s cost is worth its renewal.
It took Netflix nine months before they announced the renewal for a Season 2 of Bonding, so there might be a long wait.
We will update this page with information when, and if, Netflix renews the series for another season.
Release date latest: When does Bonding Season 3 come out?
The second season of Bonding hit on January 27, 2021.
If the streaming service renews it for a third season, expect it to arrive sometime late in 2022. This is because it took a year after Netflix made its Season 2 renewal announcement to release the season, and Netflix was in no hurry to announce that renewal.
We will update this page with any information when a specific date is announced, as well as when shooting commences.
Bonding Season 3 cast updates
If the third season of Bonding does get made, Zoe Levin and Brendan Scannell will surely return as the series’ leads.
Other cast members that could possibly return for Season 3 include Micah Stock as Tiff’s boyfriend Doug, Alex Hurt as Pete’s roommate Frank, Matthew Wilkas as Tiff’s German slave Rolph, and Charles Gould as the humiliation-loving Fred.
Bonding Season 3 spoilers
The show creator, Rightor Doyle, explained what the show was based on, pointing to his experience as a struggling comedian.
“As a young gay man still struggling with my own sexuality, guarding the door while one of my best friends from home tied a naked man to a four poster bed and whipped him was jarring to say the least,” Doyle wrote, while also claiming “influences ranging from Pedro Almodóvar to Terry Zwigoff.”
However, after the first season, there was a lot of criticism from sex workers.
“None of it felt real to me. It wasn’t a real story of a complex, beautiful sex worker who has a real story of abuse at work. That just didn’t feel right to me at all, having been there myself,” said Jessica Nicole Smith, a dominatrix working in Montreal.
As a result, things changed for the better in Season 2 of Bonding.
Doyle hired Olivia Troy, a BDSM professional and intimacy coordinator, to consult on the series for Season 2.
“We’ll all learn, we’ll all educate ourselves, but we’ll bake it into the story,” Doyle told Variety. “Ultimately we’re all going to live through the experience of what it is to dive deeper into this world in a way that is very fun while also at the same time authentic and educating people.”
In Season 2, the show went from too much comedy at times to a more emotional story, a little more of a Netflix comedy-drama.
The big plotline in Season 2 was when Pete learned that Tiff aborted his baby after prom night and never told him. This probably explains why she kept paying to work with him in the dominatrix game for so long.
Pete and Tiff are no longer the closest of friends, as a comedy agent hired Pete to do his dominatrix gimmick as a comedy act, and include the moments about the abortion. He is doing this just to get ahead in his comedy career.
The two were there for each other for so long that this is likely to leave scars and the third season of Bonding is a good place to explore those issues.
There is also more to Tiff’s story as Mistress Mira closed down her dungeon and now the other dominatrixes found a new dungeon and want Tiff to head it as Mistress May, helping young dominatrixes the same way that Mira helped her.
Other storylines that can play out in Season 2 include Tiff’s relationship with her mom, which was never strong, as well as the relationship between Frank and Portia after her miscarriage.
Netflix has yet to announce when Bonding Season 3 will premiere.