War Of The Worlds Season 3 - What We Know So Far

In July of 2021, Epix confirmed that production had begun on a third season of "War of the Worlds," creator Howard Overman's spin on H.G. Wells' infamous alien invasion novel. While an exact premiere date for the return has yet to be released, it is slated to hit the streaming service sometime in 2022, bringing with it several familiar faces and storylines and introducing at least a handful of new characters. 

As fans will recall, Overman's story differs from Wells' in that the invading aliens from Season 1 turn out to be nothing more than genetically deficient (and fast dying-off) humans from the future. To protect their existence, they go back in time to present-day earth to kill scientist Bill Ward (Gabriel Byrne) to prevent him from creating the virus that ultimately sickens and weakens their "species" — which, again, is human. 

In the Season 2 finale, Bill himself travels back in time, but his efforts to prevent the birth of the future "alien" race by destroying its original mother, Daisy Edgar-Jones' Emily, may or may not have been successful. Although the conclusion provides a reset of the narrative and its characters — implying the aliens never makes contact with earth, and Bill never has to make the weapon of a virus — questions remain, and at least one character is still having visions of the invasion. In other words, it's your average "someone must break the time loop" paradox. 

With Emily ostensibly dead, Bill arrested for her murder, and the aliens nowhere to be found, how will Season 3 tackle the ongoing "Terminator" meets "Independence Day" series? Here's what we presently know.

At this point, there's no telling how Season 3 will unfold, though the aforementioned press release from Epix does provide some clues as to what audiences can expect. Byrne will return, it reveals, as the series' reluctant and self-sacrificing protagonist, while newcomers Molly Windsor (of "Cheat"), Madeleine Worrall, Oliver Hembrough (of "The White Princess"), and Ernest Kingsley Junior will be joining the cast. Though the release does not mention Léa Drucker's determined scientist Catherine Durand, the series' IMDb page lists her as starring in Season 3. Along with Byrne, she is the only the actor currently credited with more than 16 episodes (the first and second seasons contained eight each). 

There's no word on whether or not Mathieu Torloting's malevolent Romeo Sacha or his mother, Stéphane Caillard's Chloe, will reemerge, though given what we know (from other time travel series and films) about the difficulty of breaking a time loop, it certainly seems likely. What's more, Epix reports that Season 3 will kick-off at the start of yet another war between human survivors and invaders, with the former butting up against "an opposition more dangerous than ever," while a "terrifying phenomenon" impacts Earth's population. 

As for fan-favorite and "Normal People" star Daisy Edgar-Jones, IMDb lists her two latest projects — a film adaptation of Delia Owens' "Where the Crawdads Sing" and a series adaptation of Jon Krakauer's "Under the Banner of Heaven" — as being in post-production, but like most of the "War of the Worlds" cast, there's no mention of her starring in Season 3. That said, her return also seems likely, also thanks to the paradox of time travel.