In case you were trying to manifest your sapphic dreams by waiting for the fourth season of Dickinson, the bubble must be burst. Unfortunately, the show was destined to have a three-season run, Hollywood Reporter notifies. In its short lifespan, the show has done extremely well on Rotten Tomatoes with seasons two and three receiving a perfect score, Certified Fresh.
Creator Alena Smith explains why season three is the last, “When I set out to make Dickinson, I envisioned the show as a three-season journey that would tell the origin story of America’s greatest female poet in a whole new way, highlighting Emily’s relevance and resonance to our society today.”
The show follows the protagonist Emily Dickinson, the seedling that would become one of America’s most influential poets. The trials, tribulations, and joy of poetry are all explored in the show. It uses Dickinson’s poetry to create magic-realistic elements and connects modern music and language to the period setting of that time. The show was one of a kind featuring future poets, death itself, and a beautiful sapphic romance in the center of it all.
One of the most interesting episodes involved Emily meeting Sylvia Plath who believed that Emily Dickinson was the “original sad girl.” The episode confronts and contradicts the idea that Dickinson led a short and sad life. Smith says, “Emily actually lived a long, contented life and created this phenomenal body of work and passed away as we all do when the time comes.”
Dickinson is one of the few Apple TV+ shows to end on its own terms. Others have either been canceled or have been limited series that weren’t designed to be continued. The third and final season of the show was released in November 2021 with new episodes coming out every week. The creator reminisces about the experience saying, “In my wildest dreams, I could never have imagined how rich and satisfying the experience of making this show would become, and the incredible joy it has been to tell Emily’s story along with Hailee and our brilliant, passionate cast and crew.”
Apart from Steinfeld, the cast also included Toby Huss, Adrian Blake Enscoe, Anna Baryshnikov, Ella Hunt, Amanda Warren, Chinaza Uche, Jane Krakowski, and Wiz Khalifa co-star. Also returning for the third and final season are guest stars, Zosia Mamet as Louisa May Alcott and Will Pullen as Nobody.
Dickinson Seasons 1, 2, and 3 are streaming on Apple TV+.