The creators of Ryan Murphy’s groundbreaking FX series, Pose, have announced that the show is set to end after its upcoming third season. “It was a very difficult decision for us to make,” says Pose co-creator and executive producer Steven Canals. “But this has been an incredible journey, and we have told the story that we wanted to tell, the way we wanted to tell it.”
“I, along with my incredible collaborators, never intended on changing the television landscape. I simply wanted to tell an honest story about family, resilience, and love.”
Murphy, who created the series alongside Canals and American Horror Story collaborator Brad Falchuk, echoes this statement, saying in a March 5 tweet: “We got to tell the exact story we wanted, as we wanted to tell it, and I’m incredibly honored and grateful.”
First aired in 2018, Pose revolved around Harlem’s underground ball culture in the 1980s and early 1990s, and was lauded for its revolutionary representation of LGBTQ+ characters on TV, and for placing trans actors firmly in the spotlight. It was largely thanks to Pose that, in 2019, a record number of queer characters appeared on TV.
The same year, Billy Porter made history as the first openly gay Black man to be nominated for (and win) an Emmy in the lead actor category, for his portrayal of emcee Pray Tell. The show also shot many of its trans performers to new heights, including Angelica Ross and Indya Moore. Moore discussed their performance in Pose in a recent cover interview with Dazed.
The third and final season of Pose will be just seven episodes long, set to debut in the US on May 2, via FX. A UK release date is yet to be announced.