Shining Vale Season 3 Gets Major Update From Co-Creator Following Season 2's Cliffhanger Ending (2024)

The article contains spoilers for the Shining Vale season 2 finale.

Shining Vale co-creator Jeff Astrof gives a detailed update on season 3 following that massive cliffhanger ending. From creators Astrof and Sharon Horgan, the story centers on struggling author Pat Phelps (Courteney Cox) and her husband Terry (Greg Kinnear) as they take their two teenage children out of Brooklyn and move into a 200-year-old Victorian mansion in Shining Vale, Connecticut. Strange occurrences start to happen that drive Pat to a frenzy and a hospital stay, including seeing a ghost by the name of Rosemary (Mira Sorvino). The remaining Shining Vale cast includes Gus Birney, Dylan Gage, Merrin Dungey, and Judith Light.

In an interview with Collider to break down the events of Shining Vale season 2, Astrof mentions that the outline for season 3 is written. The co-creator also talks about his process for the horror dramedy and the dynamic between the characters. He also mentions that the show hasn't been renewed yet. Read his comments below:

This show is very, very complicated. It’s very complicated, story wise, and telling it is very, very complicated, in terms of production and post-production. We’re on a tight schedule. By the middle of the season, I’m doing post and I’m prepping for the next episode and I’m also writing, and it’s just too much. I like to have everything lined up. All of it is outlined. By the way, all of Season 3 is outlined, and we don’t have a pick-up yet. I know where we’re gonna go. I write it like it’s a four-hour movie. There’s an act break after the fourth episode, and then there’s the second part, which takes off. So, I know where it’s gonna go. I knew Pat was gonna hit Terry and be institutionalized, but it wasn’t until episode five or six that I knew he was gonna lose his memory and we were gonna do Regarding Henry. So, I know where it’s gonna go. I knew where Season 2 would end. I also know where Season 3 ends. You have to do it, to write a show that’s this dense. With my actors, all the notes I get are, “What happens next?” Greg is always like, “How are we gonna do this again? Where does my character go?” I kind of don’t want to tell him, and I kind of don’t wanna tell them, because I want them to be in the moment. I also think people get addicted to it, even on stage and even at this level, so they wanna know. I just like being prepared.

How Does Shining Vale Season 2 End?

Shining Vale season 2 picks up four months after the chaotic season 1 finale, and as she returns home from her psychiatric stay, Pat is determined to mend her broken family. However, she discovers that her children don't need her, and Terry doesn't remember her. Pat also has a new neighbor, Ruth, who happens to look exactly like Rosemary. But by the time the finale, "Redemption," rolls around, Rosemary turns out to be the least of Pat's problems, as it's her husband Terry who should be feared. If anything, Rosemary might've been trying to help in her own way.

In the season 2 finale, written by Astrof, with Daisy von Scherler Mayer directing, Pat gets closer to realizing the truth about her pregnancy and why her baby was at risk of being taken away once she gave birth. It's revealed that Terry is part of the conspiracy, apparently having a past as a doctor in the asylum that is now the Phelps' home. But the twists don't end there.

Pat eventually gives birth, with the newborn swiftly taken away to meet his father. Pat takes a moment to hope that everything is now fine, and Terry is the mayor in Shining Vale. Gaynor (Birney) wants to become a writer, and even Jake (Gage) seems a bit more outgoing. But then Pat reads something concerning, which jogs her memory and allows her to put the pieces in place. Just before the episode ends, Pat realizes that Terry is the Devil and is at the root of her recent troubles. It's a turn that cries out for a continuation, which will hopefully happen with a potential season 3 renewal.

Source: Collider