Them was always billed as a horror anthology, and this remained true throughout its first season, Covenant, and its second, The Scare. However, the ending of The Scare drew some explicit connections to Season 1, revealing the two seasons, set four decades apart, were intimately connected. This creates some creative issues for Season 3, which could be forced to head in a new direction.
Them Season 3 Is Not Yet Confirmed
A third season of the Prime Video series has not yet been confirmed. Given the ending of The Scare, if the show is renewed, it will have to be marketed differently given the connections.
Since has been no official confirmation that the show will even get a third season, it will all depend on how well Season 2 performs. On this level, at least, signs are positive, since Them is well-liked among audiences despite a mixed critical reception (see below).
Anthologies such as American Horror Story managed to build an audience over time, but you could argue that even though that show seemed to do well, it struggled from season to season, with some stories just failing to make a mark. Now that Them seems to be moving away from the anthological format, Season 3 could be commissioned based on the appeal of seeing more of the continuing story, rather than on the notion of an entirely fresh experience.
Would Season 3 Still Be Anthological?
The key question surrounding Them Season 3 is whether it would abandon the anthological conceit entirely and just focus on telling more direct stories about the horrors connecting the generations of the Emory family.
I think this would be a mistake, and also pretty unlikely. The connections turned up in Season 2 were a nice nod for fans, but the season functioned as a standalone tale for the most part, allowing for an exploration of similar themes — with the fun gimmick of actors returning in new roles — while still being able to completely update the setting and premise.
If Season 3 is greenlit, I would expect it to continue this approach, focusing on new stories with perhaps some tangential connections to previous seasons where necessary.
Critical Reception of Them So Far
The first season of Them, subtitled Covenant, received a very mixed critical reception on Rotten Tomatoes, earning a Tomatometer score of just 58%, which constitutes Rotten. However, The Scare is thus far wildly outperforming the freshman outing with a 100% Tomatometer score, though admittedly based on fewer reviews.
In our review we also determined Season 2 to be superior, saying:
The Scare certainly improves on its predecessor – on this, it seems, everyone is in agreement – but it never had that much of an identity to lose.
Screen Rant was mixed on the show too, however, Decider urged its readers to stream it, saying, “The first episode of Them: The Scare does a good job at setting the scene and giving viewers the creeps from the jump.”
With a high bar that has already been set, shows that approach this genre need to be more ambitious with a strong narrative if they want to get noticed.
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