'COBRA' Season 3 to Convene Early on PBS Passport

COBRA Season 3 already promised the "Rebellion" would be televised, as Season 3's subheading was given that name, with a warning that this time, the threats were coming from inside the house. But for PBS Passport members who support their local public television stations, the Rebellion will also officially arrive ahead of schedule. The Summer 2024 mystery schedule is now officially set with six-episode runs of Professor T Season 3, Grantchester Season 9, and D.I. Ray Season 2 to debut on Sunday, June 16, at 8 p.m., 9 p.m., and 10 p.m. ET, respectively, so fan-favorite COBRA won't arrive on most PBS stations until late July. However, the hardcore stans of the Sutherland administration won't have to wait that long, as COBRA will get an early PBS Passport debut in May 2024.

Sutherland has not had the easiest time as Prime Minister, though, to be fair, at least his administration lasted longer than a head of lettuce, and he was never thrown out of office for holding ill-advised keggers. Instead, he's merely lurched from crisis to crisis, beginning with a worldwide electrical grid collapse which somehow just turned into Northern England getting screwed over again like it always does. Then a World War II vessel with explosives inside was set off by frakking, taking out a good deal of the Kent coastline, a problem that was immediately forgotten about because the GSP and banking systems decided to drive people into each other and steal all their money. Naturally, Britain threatened to go nuclear because that's a measured response to a whole lot of traffic accidents all at once in central London and the logical end of Brexit happening on a compressed timeline.

How do you top that? Civil War. Duh. Roundheads, royalists, beheadings, whatnot. Oh, wait, what, no? It's just the Prime Minister's daughter dating a loser? Ok, well that's pretty bad too.

Here's the official synopsis for "Rebellion":

When an unforeseen environmental disaster causes enormous destruction and loss of life, the consequences are far-reaching for the Prime Minister. The subsequent investigation leads Sutherland and his team to realize that all may not be as it appears. Embarking on a quest to discover the truth, they find something disturbing and disruptive underneath. The crisis spirals to encompass not only the urgent threat of environmental destruction but also the malignant corruption of the arms industry and the rise of shadowy corporate security firms. The cabinet is faced with the inconvenient reality of the UK’s historic relationship with a global superpower. All these elements combine to lead the Prime Minister to a crucial decision about who he is personally and what – ultimately – he is willing to sacrifice in order to remain in power.

Robert Carlyle (The Full Monty) returns at PM Sutherland alongside  Victoria Hamilton (The Crown) as chief of staff Anna Marshall, David Haig (Killing Eve) as Foreign Secretary Archie Glover-Morgan, Richard Pepple (Bridgerton) as Home Secretary Joseph Obasi, and Marsha Thomason (The Bay) as Francine Bridge, Shadow Environment Secretary. Co-stars include Lisa Palfrey (Chloe) as Eleanor James, Head of the Joint Intelligence Committee, Lucy Cohu (Ripper Street) as Rachel Sutherland, Alexa Davies (Dead Pixels) as Audrey Hemmings, Civil Contingencies Secretariat Officer and Edward Bennett (Save Me Too) as press secretary Peter Mott.

Jane Horrocks (Absolutely Fabulous) joins the cast as Victoria Dalton, a new populist Defense Secretary, and Ben Crompton (Game of Thrones) as rebel Henry Wicks. Toby Finlay (The Serpent) is the lead writer for Season 3, with James Wood and Rachel Anthony. Directors Charles Sturridge (Sanditon) and Sasha Ransome (All Creatures Great & Small) split helming duties.

COBRA Season 3 will debut with all six episodes on Monday, May 13, 2024, on PBS Passport for members to stream as a binge. The series will debut on air on the national schedule on Thursday, July 25, 2024, on some PBS stations, but as we've said before, Thursdays are not a lock day for the national schedule; they're just a suggestion and have been ever since Mystery! ended back in 2007. So, in this case, everyone should check their local listings; COBRA will almost certainly debut on your local PBS station around or just after July 25; it just might be on Friday, July 26, or Saturday, July 27, etc. (Here in the DC area, at least one of our local stations is planning to run it on Sundays at 10 p.m. ET starting July 28, 2024, for example.) 

Or, you know, donate to your local station today and start watching in May. You can thank me later.