'Happy Valley's Final Season Sets a Premiere Date on Acorn TV/AMC+/BBCA

AMC Networks hasn't had the easiest time of the 2020 streaming wars. The company chose to go a different direction than most other production studios with many little niche-marketed streamers rather than a giant conglomerate. It was a decision made by default and necessity, and while it may yet pay off in the long run, currently, the company is reorganizing in hopes of staving off collapse. One fortunate decision, though, was to grab the rights to help produce the final season of Happy Valley when the going was still good, locking in the rights to the entire series. AMCN is taking full advantage with a simulcast premiere across three brands to amass the largest audience possible.

Like many British shows that hit in the states in the 2010s, Happy Valley was an accident of Netflix timing, arriving during the era when the subscription streaming service had an audience all to itself and could turn any good show into a hit by surfacing it properly in the algorithm. The Sally Wainwright police procedural also had a stellar cast American audiences recognized: James Norton from Grantchester, Siobhan Finneran from Downton Abbey, and Sarah Lancashire from Last Tango in Halifax, with a guest star turn by Harry Potter's Matthew Lewis in Season 2.

While those days of Netflix dominance are long gone, Happy Valley's return to wrap up the story will resonate with fans of the series, many of whom have moved on from Netflix. AMC Networks is hoping to reel them in by putting the third season on Aocrn TV, well known to Anglophiles, its flagship streaming service AMC+, which is still hoping to get a foothold of success with its Anne Rice offerings, and on BBC America, which desperately needs British content as shows like Doctor Who and Luther exit for larger-scale brands. The series is a must-see if the trailer is anything to go by.