Development In November 2023, following the release of the
second season,
FX renewed
The Bear for a ten-episode third season. The season was announced with co-
showrunners Christopher Storer and
Joanna Calo serving as executive producers, along with
Hiro Murai, Josh Senior and star
Matty Matheson.
Writing Season 3 covers the period from May 28 to August 6, 2023. The episode "
Doors" covers almost six weeks in June and July 2023. Storer wrote all episodes in the season, except "
Napkins", "
Ice Chips" and "
Apologies", which were respectively written by Catherine Schetina, Calo, and supervising producer Alex Russell.
Casting Josh Hartnett was cast as Tiffany's fiancé after meeting Storer years prior when they discussed a possible role for a film. Hartnett accepted the role without even reading the script.
John Cena was cast as Sammy Fak. "
Forever" features cameos by
Christina Tosi and
Grant Achatz.
Costuming Costume designer Courtney Wheeler told
GQ that picking out vintage neckties to go with Fak's suits was her special "pride and joy" in styling season three.
Set decoration and props Ceramicist
Jono Pandolfi sent
The Bear crew "a tonprobably 1,000 to 2,000 pieces, like a full restaurant load" of their plates and bowls for use in the on-screen Bear restaurant. The restaurant uses dishes from the Coupe and Square-Side lines. In reality as on the show, a large budget line item in season three was fresh flowers for the restaurant. When not being immediately used for filming the flowers were stored in a backstage refrigerator to protect them from the heat generated by soundstage lights and engines and bodies. In March 2024, scenes depicting the cast filming a funeral for "
Doors" leaked to the Internet, with fans speculating that they would attend Marcus' mother's funeral. The second episode, "
Next", was filmed in just two days. Main cast member
Ayo Edebiri directed the sixth episode of the season, "
Napkins", after joining the
Directors Guild of America. Parts of the fourth season were filmed during filming for this season. According to Scott D. Smith, the head of the sound production team since the pilot episode, "Overall, this season is much quieter than the previous two seasons." Cinematographer Andrew Wehde told Panavision about filming the show generally, and season three specifically, "The thing that I get from Chris [Storer] is that each season it's important to not be doing the same thing, not to repeat the trick. It's a weird thing because television's all about consistency, but he finds consistency through storytelling and characters and allows each episode to live and breathe as its own little film...They have different music, different pacing, and the emotions are different, but they connect so well because of repeat locations, the tone, and who the characters are."
Music The song used in the season 3 trailer is "
Mixed Emotions" by
the Rolling Stones, and "an added layer of resonance comes from the song's inspiration—the fractured relationship between
Mick Jagger and
Keith Richards that nearly derailed The Stones in the mid-'80s—which echoes Carmy's strained partnerships with Syd and Richie." According to a Block Club Chicago feature on composers
Jeffrey Qaiyum and
Johnny Iguana, "The duo said season three is quieter overall than the first two seasons, both in terms of score and '
needle drop' songs. Qaiyum praised the producers for pulling the whole thing together and not bogging down scenes with music that don't need it." == Release ==