Peacock Will Remain Faithful to 'The Traitors' Through Seasons 4 and 5

Buckle up, reality TV lovers: The Traitors aren't going anywhere.

The series, which features nearly two dozen reality stars descending upon a Scottish castle where host Alan Cumming encourages them to lie, betray, and (metaphorically) murder one another for money, has been renewed for Seasons 4 and 5. (The Traitors' third installment recently wrapped filming and will likely air in early 2025.) 

The Emmy-winning reality TV juggernaut has been a wild success for Peacock and one of the NBC streamer's few genuine breakout hits. Its premise will be familiar to anyone who ever played Assassin (or Mafia or Werewolves) in high school or while away at college. Several of the cast are assigned to play the roles of "Traitors," who must work together to eliminate the majority, also known as the "Faithfuls"

The Faithfuls know that Traitors are among them, but they don't know their identities and must spend the season attempting to discover their secrets even as they compete alongside them in group missions to earn prize money.  

Viewers at home are told the Traitors' identities in each season's first episode, and the game alternates between phases as the Faithfuls try to pick out and banish the Traitors, and the Traitors gleefully select a Faithful to "murder" each night. In the end, if the Faithful can banish all the Traitors, the surviving contestants who make it to the end of the game can split the cash prize, but if one Traitor remains among them, that person takes it all. 

While this all may sound very silly, in practice, it makes for wildly addictive television.

At the center of it all is Cumming, who stars as the series' flamboyant, impeccably dressed Scottish host with the literal most. The Masterpiece Mystery alum is part narrator, part mediator, part enabler, and part spectator, encouraging the contestants' most dramatic tendencies and offering snide commentary during their various physical challenges. Cumming dives into his dramatic, over-the-top persona with gusto, treating it all as seriously as Shakespeare with the campy flair of a Bond villain on top. It's glorious.

"I can’t tell you how much I love this show. It’s such a left field thing for me to have done at this stage in my career," Cumming told Variety's Awards Circuit podcast. "I think that’s also interesting for me, as the kind of performer I am, to be sort of subverting the notion of a host as well. Because I’m obviously hosting the show, but I’m also doing it in character. I’ve hosted things before like documentaries and shows. But nothing like this. This is very much a very different person to who actually I am.”

Thanks to the success of The Traitors, Cumming recently signed a first-look producing deal with NBCUniversal, to include both scripted and unscripted projects across the company's portfolio of brands. So it's highly likely we'll see more projects from him in the future, on both Peacock and elsewhere. 

Seasons 1 and 2 of The Traitors are currently streaming on Peacock, alongside both seasons of the series' U.K. version. Season 3 will premiere in 2025.