The third and final season of the American

cable television Cable television is a system of delivering television programming to consumers via radio frequency (RF) signals transmitted through coaxial cables, or in more recent systems, light pulses through fibre-optic cables. This contrasts with bro ...

series ''

Legion Legion may refer to: Military * Roman legion, the basic military unit of the ancient Roman army * Aviazione Legionaria, Italian air force during the Spanish Civil War * A legion is the regional unit of the Italian carabinieri * Spanish Legion, ...

'' is based on the

Marvel Comics Marvel Comics is a New York City–based comic book publishing, publisher, a property of the Walt Disney Company since December 31, 2009, and a subsidiary of Disney Publishing Worldwide since March 2023. Marvel was founded in 1939 by Martin G ...

character David Haller / Legion, a

mutant In biology, and especially in genetics, a mutant is an organism or a new genetic character arising or resulting from an instance of mutation, which is generally an alteration of the DNA sequence of the genome or chromosome of an organism. It i ...

diagnosed with

schizophrenia Schizophrenia () is a mental disorder characterized variously by hallucinations (typically, Auditory hallucination#Schizophrenia, hearing voices), delusions, thought disorder, disorganized thinking and behavior, and Reduced affect display, f ...

at a young age. The season is produced by

FX Productions FX Productions, LLC (FXP) is an American television and in-house production company owned by FX Networks, a division of the Disney Entertainment unit of The Walt Disney Company. It was also known in copyright as Bluebush Productions from 2007 ...

in association with

Marvel Television Marvel Television was an American television production company responsible for live-action and animated television shows and direct-to-DVD series based on characters from Marvel Comics. Marvel Television was formed as a division of Marvel En ...

Noah Hawley Noah Hawley (born 1967) is an American screenwriter, director, producer, author, and singer. He is best known for creating and writing the FX series '' Fargo'' (2014–present) and '' Legion'' (2017–2019). He also worked on the series '' Bones ...

serves as

showrunner A showrunner is the top-level executive producer of a television series. The position outranks other creative and management personnel, including episode directors, in contrast to feature films, in which the director has creative control over th ...

Dan Stevens Daniel Jonathan Stevens (born 10 October 1982) is an English actor. He first drew international attention for his role as Matthew Crawley in the ITV period drama series ''Downton Abbey'' (2010–2012). He also starred as David in the thriller ...

stars as Haller, with

Rachel Keller Rachel Keller is a fictional character in ''The Ring'' film series. The character, created by writer-producer Ehren Kruger and portrayed by Naomi Watts, serves as the protagonist of ''The Ring'' and ''The Ring Two'', sharing similarities with ...

Aubrey Plaza Aubrey Christina Plaza (born June 26, 1984) is an American actress, comedian, and producer. She began performing Improvisational theatre, improv and sketch comedy at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre. After graduating from New York University ...

Bill Irwin William Mills Irwin (born April 11, 1950) is an American actor, choreographer, clown, and comedian. He began as a vaudeville-style stage performer and has been noted for his contribution to the renaissance of American circus during the 1970s. ...

Navid Negahban Navid Negahban () is an Iranian-American actor. He has appeared on '' 24'', ''Homeland'', '' Mistresses'', and as Amahl Farouk / Shadow King in the second and third seasons of FX's '' Legion''. He has also starred as the Sultan in the live-ac ...

Jeremie Harris Jeremie Harris is an American actor. He is primarily known for his portrayal of Ptonomy Wallace in FX's ''Legion''. Biography Jeremie Harris grew up in New Rochelle where he had ambitions to become a basketball player. He gave up on this dream w ...

Amber Midthunder Amber Midthunder (born April 26, 1997) is an American actress. She had regular roles in the FX series ''Legion'' and The CW series ''Roswell, New Mexico'', and also appeared on '' Longmire'', ''Banshee'', and ''Reservation Dogs''. In 2022, she ...

and

Hamish Linklater Hamish Linklater (born July 7, 1976) is an American actor and playwright. He is known for playing Matthew Kimble in '' The New Adventures of Old Christine'' (2006–2010), Andrew Keanelly in '' The Crazy Ones'' (2013–2014), and Clark Debussy i ...

also returning from previous seasons to star. They are joined by newcomer

Lauren Tsai Lauren Tsai (born February 11, 1998), is an American visual artist, model, and actress. She is best known to audiences for her appearance in the Fuji TV and Netflix series '' Terrace House: Aloha State''. She made her acting debut in the third an ...

. A third season of ''Legion'' was ordered by FX in June 2018, and FX later confirmed it would be the final season in February 2019. The season premiered on FX on June 24, 2019, and consists of eight episodes.

Episodes

Cast and characters

Main

as David Haller / Legion *

as Sydney "Syd" Barrett *

as Lenny Busker *

as Cary Loudermilk *

as Amahl Farouk / Shadow King *

as Ptonomy Wallace *

as Kerry Loudermilk *

as Jia-yi / Switch *

as Clark Debussy

Special guest

Jean Smart Jean Elizabeth Smart (born September 13, 1951) is an American actress. Jean Smart filmography, Her work includes both comedy and drama, and List of awards and nominations received by Jean Smart, her accolades include six Primetime Emmy Awards a ...

as Melanie Bird *

Jemaine Clement Jemaine Atea Mahana Clement (born 10 January 1974) is a New Zealand actor, comedian, musician, and filmmaker. He has released several albums with Bret McKenzie as the musical comedy duo Flight of the Conchords, and created a comedy TV series t ...

as Oliver Bird

Recurring

Harry Lloyd Harry Charles Salusbury Lloyd (born 17 November 1983) is an English actor. His performance in the Channel 4 miniseries '' The Fear'' (2012) earned him a British Academy Television Award nomination. He gained prominence through his roles as W ...

as Charles Xavier / Professor X *

Stephanie Corneliussen Stephanie Corneliussen () is a Danish actress and model, best known for her role as Joanna Wellick in ''Mr. Robot''. Early life and education Corneliussen was born in Copenhagen. She attended Johannesskolen in Frederiksberg and studied ballet i ...

as Gabrielle Xavier

Guest

Jason Mantzoukas Jason Mantzoukas (; born December 18, 1972) is an American actor, comedian, screenwriter and podcaster. He is known for his roles as Rafi in the FX comedy series ''The League'' and as Nadal in '' The Dictator,'' and he is one of the three co-ho ...

as Jerome / Wolf

Production

Development

In June 2018, the series was renewed for a third season. In February 2019, it was announced that the third season would premiere in June 2019, and will serve as the final season of the series. Hawley's plan had always been for three seasons, he stated, "I think endings are what give stories meaning. I always thought about this as a complete story, and it felt like three acts of a story." He continued: The season consists of eight episodes.

Casting

Returning from previous seasons to star are

as David Haller,

as Sydney "Syd" Barrett,

as Lenny Busker,

as Cary Loudermilk,

as Amahl Farouk / Shadow King,

as Ptonomy Wallace,

as Kerry Loudermilk, and

as Clark Debussy. In January 2019,

was cast as Switch, "a young mutant whose secret ability serves as the key to executing David Haller's plan". She is loosely based on the Marvel Comics character of the same name who was male. In February, it was announced that the characters Gabrielle Haller and

Professor X Professor X (Prof. Charles Francis Xavier) is a character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Stan Lee and artist/co-writer Jack Kirby, the character first appeared in Uncanny X-Men, ''The X-Men'' #1 ( ...

would appear played by

and

, respectively.

and

also return in special guest roles as Melanie and Oliver Bird in "Chapter 25".

Design

Reinforced by the idea of David leading a cult, inspirations for set design as well as clothing were drawn from

psychedelic Psychedelics are a subclass of hallucinogenic drugs whose primary effect is to trigger non-ordinary mental states (known as psychedelic experiences or "trips") and a perceived "expansion of consciousness". Also referred to as classic halluci ...

visuals from the 1960s and 70s, all while integrating with modern-day elements to avoid dating the series. Costume designer

Robert Blackman Robert Richard Blackman (born 1943) is an American costume designer most known for his work on the Star Trek, ''Star Trek'' franchise since ''Star Trek: The Next Generation''s List of Star Trek: The Next Generation episodes#Season 3 (1989–1990 ...

continued the theme of mixing fashion from different decades, with prominent features from psychedelic 60s/70s and modern-day fashion. Each character's outfits were updated, with the color palette for each character changed. As the leader of his group, Haller's style resembles that of a

guru Guru ( ; International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration, IAST: ''guru'') is a Sanskrit term for a "mentor, guide, expert, or master" of certain knowledge or field. In pan-Indian religions, Indian traditions, a guru is more than a teacher: tr ...

, particularly his orange tunic. As the second-line leader of the girl group, Busker wears more feminine, violet/blue articles of clothing. Barrett wears predominantly black, drawing stylistic inspirations from

Marianne Faithfull Marianne Evelyn Gabriel Faithfull (29 December 1946 – 30 January 2025) was an English singer and actress who achieved popularity in the 1960s with the release of her UK top 10 single " As Tears Go By". She became one of the leading female art ...

. Cary and Kerry Loudermilk both maintain the color palette, although Cary wears more neutral colors while Kerry wears navy and brown. As Wallace has now become a vehicle for the Mainframe, Wallace's clothing has become more muted in color. Other changes include Debussy wearing

aubergine Eggplant ( US, CA, AU, PH), aubergine ( UK, IE, NZ), brinjal ( IN, SG, MY, ZA, SLE), or baigan ( IN, GY) is a plant species in the nightshade family Solanaceae. ''Solanum melongena'' is grown worldwide for its edible fruit, typica ...

suits and Farouk wearing three-piece suits of various neutral colors. With timeless visuals enabled more so by introduction of new character Switch, her timeless style is drawn from mixing Harajuku fashion with pop elements. New production designer Marco Niro, who worked on ''

Mayans M.C. ''Mayans M.C.'' (also known simply as ''Mayans'') is an American crime drama television series created by Kurt Sutter and Elgin James, that premiered on September 4, 2018, on FX. The show takes place in the same fictional universe as ''Sons o ...

'', drew inspirations from his studies and travels to envision new set designs for the show. Hawley and Niro discussed the integration of different time periods and locations as well as how the Enlightenment House does not need to obey the laws of physics, as seen by the blue energy that flows through the whole house. When designing the Division 3 headquarters, Hawley only told Niro he needed a flying fortress; Niro designed an airship for Division 3, with mythological symbols from cultures and references to books and art from his journeys added to the airship set. To create the hall of time in which Switch travels, an elegant shape was applied to the hallway, to which a

forced perspective Forced perspective is a technique that employs optical illusion to make an object appear farther away, closer, larger or smaller than it actually is. It manipulates human visual perception through the use of scaled objects and the correlation bet ...

is done to invoke a sense of endlessly traveling forwards or backwards in time.

Music

Composer

Jeff Russo Jeff Russo (born August 31) is an American composer, songwriter, guitarist, vocalist and music producer, and one of the two founding members of the rock band Tonic. He is also a founding member of the Americana band Low Stars. Russo is also k ...

returned to compose for the third season. A soundtrack album for the season featuring Russo's score and reimagined covers was released digitally on December 18, 2020. All music by Jeff Russo, except where noted:

Release

Broadcast

The season began airing on FX on June 24, 2019, and consists of eight episodes.

Reception

Critical response

The

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews and ratings of products and services, such as films, books, video games, music, software, hardware, or cars. This system then stores the reviews to be used for supporting a website where user ...

website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

reported a 93% approval rating for the third season, with an average rating of 7.9 out of 10 based on 71 reviews. The website's critical consensus reads, "In its final season, ''Legion'' remains a singular piece of visually arresting, mind-bending television that never fails to surprise."

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

, which uses a

weighted average The weighted arithmetic mean is similar to an ordinary arithmetic mean (the most common type of average), except that instead of each of the data points contributing equally to the final average, some data points contribute more than others. The ...

, assigned a score of 72 out of 100 based on six critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews. David Bianculli of

NPR National Public Radio (NPR) is an American public broadcasting organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It serves as a national Radio syndication, syndicator to a network of more ...

praised the series and wrote, "''Legion'' uses visuals, editing, music and sound better than almost any series on television. And I don't just mean any series now — I mean ever. I've seen the first half of this final season, and that's even more true than before." Ben Travers of IndieWire wrote a generally positive review and gave it a "B" grade, writing, "Hawley's series remains ambitious to the end, accepting the flaws that come with such big dreams and daring to keep dreaming bigger. The result is imperfect, but mesmerizing in just enough scenes to keep you coming back for more. Those short stories are adding up to something, and even if ''Legion'' isn't the sum of its parts, some of those parts are spectacular on their own."

Ratings

References

External links

* * {{X-Men in television 2019 American television seasons 03