Posted in: FX, Preview, Trailer, TV | Tagged: atlanta, donald glover, fx, london, season 3

Atlanta Writer/EP Talks Racial Harassment During S03 Filming in London

Published Fri, 18 Feb 2022 13:21:15 -0600

Having now reached the end of this week's round of Television Critics Association (TCA) winter press event sessions, FX Networks definitely didn't disappoint. Though we're not sure Donald Glover announcing that Atlanta would end its run with its fourth season (set for this fall) was at the top of their list, that's exactly what the star/creator/EP/writer/director/executive music producer did during the session promoting the third season ahead of its two-episode March 24 premiere. "Death is natural," Glover explained during the discussion. "I feel like when the conditions are right for something, they happen, and when the conditions aren't right, they don't happen. I don't feel any longevity. Because then things start to get weird. The story was always supposed to be what it was. And the story, it really was us. Everybody in that writers' room, everybody on set. It really was what we were going through and what we talked about. … I think it ends perfectly." That said, Glover isn't completely shutting the door on a return to the show's universe. "If there's a reason to do it, of course. Like a Christmas special," he joked. "It always depends. I like keeping my options open."

atlanta — Atlanta _ Visitors – Season 3 Teaser _ FX 1-6 screenshot

And as for the upcoming third season, series writer & EP Stephen Glover revealed that members of the cast & crew were the targets of a racially charged incident during their first night in London after a group of drunk people confronted them outside of a bar. "This group of people walks up. And maybe one of them kind of notices Donald or recognizes him. And she stops, and they start asking if they know anywhere around here to get something to drink. I think we were talking to them for a second. It's this girl and two or three guys," Glover explained. From there, Stephen says the woman's friend made a comment about the show's writers being able to break into a bar because "you guys all carry hammers" (with "hammers" being a slang expression for carrying a gun). "Mind you, all of the writers on 'Atlanta' are Black. So, he's making a reference that we all have hammers, and we can just break into this place, which we kind of ignored. It was so insulting, but not insulting at the same time because it took us five minutes to fully understand," Stephen continued. "He got to a point of like if the insinuation was lost on us, he got specific and he was like, 'You guys are Black, you've gone to jail and you do things like that.' Like he kept doubling down on it." After picking up his female friend who was talking with one of the writers, the man yelled, Run. They are going to rape you, like, rape you." Stephen said the woman was trying to apologize as she was being taken away, proving just how bad the incident was. "We are just standing there, like, 'What just happened?'" Donald Glover added.