13 Reasons Why has been renewed for Season 3, because there are still more traumatic stories left to tell at Liberty High

It appears as if we’re heading back to Liberty High for senior year because Netflix has renewed 13 Reasons Why for a third season. The announcement comes just three weeks after Season 2 of the controversial series began streaming.

The series, which initially focused on the suicide of high school student Hannah Baker, has prided itself for tackling a number of heavy topics, including depression, suicide, gun violence, sexual assault, addiction, bullying, and recovery — often to very mixed results.

Season 3 of the series will consist of 13 episodes and is set to begin streaming next year. While it’s expected that much of the series’ ensemble cast will return for the new episodes, there’s one major player who won’t be coming back for more — and honestly, it’s for the best. Last week, Katherine Langford confirmed that Season 2 of the series was her last.

While a third season of 13 Reasons Why was not a given per se — especially considering the series was initially envisioned as a one-off miniseries adapting Jay Asher’s novel in its entirety — Season 2 certainly laid groundwork for more. But unfortunately it’s not more of the light, sweet content à la Hannah and Zach’s summer fling. Nope, it seems the show is remaining true to its roots and will continue to be hella dramatic in Season 3.

During the finale, Bryce Walker (Justin Prentice) ominously reveals to Zach Dempsey (Ross Butler) that he’ll be transferring schools…but the Liberty High teens won’t exactly be rid of him. The closing moments of the season also ended in what can only be described as a mess of a cliffhanger, with Clay Jensen (Dylan Minnette) bizarrely stopping Tyler Down (Devin Druid) from shooting up the school dance. In a move that practically begged Netflix for another season, Clay is left holding an assault rifle outside the dance as sirens wail, flanked by Jessica Davis (Alisha Boe) and Justin Foley (Brandon Flynn), who asks, “What do we do now?”

Welp, it seems we’ll get the answer to Justin’s question in 2019.

Check out the Season 3 announcement:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yNOAs3poxMw?feature=oembed

Series creator Brian Yorkey will continue to serve as showrunner for Season 3 and will executive produce alongside Joy Gorman, Mandy Teefey, Kristel Laiblin, Tom McCarthy, Steve Golin, and Selena Gomez.

Production on Season 3 of the series is set to begin later this year, and episodes are expected to air sometime in 2019. The first two seasons of 13 Reasons Why are currently streaming on Netflix.