How To Get Away With Murder returns this fall for its third season and the show will continue following the lives of Annalise Keating (Viola Davis) and the Keating Five. In Season 2, the show saw a decline in weekly cases with most of the season focusing on the Hapstall trial and flashbacks between Annalise and Wes’ (Alfred Enoch) mom.
Season 3 will likely have a different format, according to showrunner Peter Nowalk. “I like switching it up, honestly,” said Nowalk to TVLine. “I don’t want the show to become stale. In the back half of Season 2, we had so much emphasis on Rose’s case that there wasn’t room for cases of the week. We’ll probably try to do a balance.”
Nowalk added that Annalise will continue doing what she does best: law. “I love watching Annalise do her job in any way,” said Nowalk. “She loves her job, and I don’t think she’s the same person if she’s not doing it. So, whether that’s case of the week or case of the season, seeing her at work is what I care about.”
Season 3 will also see how Wes and Annalise move forward after everything they have been through from Rebecca’s (Katie Findlay) death to learning about Annalise’s history with his mother.
“I think the ball is mostly in Wes' court there,” Nowalk told TV.com. “I think he understands now why Annalise has been doing everything and treating him that way more than he did before. Whether he can trust her again and whether he wants her in his life is the big question. I will say he's alone. He doesn't have anyone and here's this person who's protected him from a lot. That's a big dilemma for him, but I would like to see them not hate each other for a little bit.”
The Season 2 finale ended with a shocker: Wes goes to New York to meet his father, only to witness him get shot in the head in broad daylight. The identity of the killer, according to Nowalk, will be revealed immediately. “There are two options for me — it’s either in the first minute in the show, or that’s a longer mystery because it’s a more complicated story,” Nowalk told Variety.
As for how the death will impact Wes, he’s going to handle it better than expected. “One year ago, I would have said Wes would have fallen apart and down a spiral, but I think he’s been through so much hell now, he’s much tougher,” said Nowalk to Variety. “The thing I’m really excited to explore now is what is his relationship with Annalise now. They’ve been on such opposite sides because she’s been aggressively protecting him, but also hiding a secret from him, but now that everything is out on the table, he has to decide whether to trust her. He’s alone so I think there’s a version where they grow much closer and they work together so that’s what is really appealing to me right now.”
Season 3 of ABC’s How to Get Away with Murder returns in the fall.
