'Boarders' Renewed For Third & Final Season

TV producers love a series focused on various educational settings, whether it’s within the traditional U.S. K-12 system or located across the pond in the stricter “Key Stage” system of the U.K. However, unless the show focuses on the teachers (such as Abbott Elementary and Bad Education), it has a natural endpoint, since linear time is not optional. Graduation eventually comes for us all, and that’s the case with Boarders, the genuinely great little series from the BBC currently streaming with two seasons in the U.S. for free on Tubi. The BBC has confirmed the show will return for Season 3, but as this is the quintet’s final year at school, it will also be the last.

Boarders debuted as a fish-out-of-water comedy series set in the world of the British upper-class boarding school, beginning when five talented Black London inner-city teens – Josh Tedeku as Jaheim, Jodie Campbell as Leah, Sekou Diaby as Toby, Myles Kamwendo as Omar, and Aruna Jalloh as Femi – receive full ride scholarships to St. Gilbert’s Academy. Initially intended as a temporary public relations exercise to improve the school’s reputation, the five students instead get to work proving they belong there and making friends/enemies/frenemies along the way, including Assa Kanouté as St. Gilbert’s upper-class Black student like Abby.

The series was conceived by Daniel Lawrence Taylor, who also co-stars as the kids’ mentor, Gus. As part of the announcement, Taylor said, “Boarders has been a deeply personal project for me, and it’s been incredible to see how audiences have connected with the characters. From day one, I wanted to create something funny, honest, and proudly Black – and in this final term, I hope to finish their story as they face their final year with greater challenges, deeper friendships, and the looming question of life beyond school.”

Here's the final season's synopsis:

Boarders Season 3 sees the South London teens back at St. Gilbert’s, and the pressure is on. They’ve made it to their final term, exams are looming, and they’re determined to achieve big. As they dream of life beyond St. Gilbert’s, a neighbouring school, which also happens to be the one Abby is now attending, provokes an intense rivalry, causing chaos and jeopardising their futures. 

With new enemies, love interests, and broken friendships, our teens are faced with a fresh batch of problems that threaten to trip them up at their final hurdle. What will it take for our scholarship kids to come out on top?

Tedeku, Campbell, Diaby, Kamwendo, Jalloh, Taylor, and Kanouté all return for the show's final season. Season 3 also brings back Niky Wardley (Queen of Oz) as Carol, Tallulah Greive (My Lady Jane) as Beatrix, Rosie Graham (Sanditon) as Florence, Georgina Sadler (A Woman of Substance) as Mabel, Zheng Xi Yong (Barbie) as Xiang, Archie Fisher (Death By Lightning) as Cheddar, Ruxandra Porojnicu (Trying) as Yelena, Maxim Ays (The Larkins) as Felix, William Andrews (Sweetpea) as Mackers, Yuriri Naka (Curfew) as Ms Kaneko, Internet personality Al Foran as Stanley, plus no-longer-newcomer Andrew Harmon-Gray as Graham. 

Guest stars for the third and final season are expected to be announced closer to the start of filming.

Taylor is the lead writer, with Yemi Oyefuwa returning alongside him to pen Season 3, as well as new additions Cherish Shirley, Temi Wilkey, Alex Straker, and Emma Dennis-Edwards. Season 3 will be directed by Yero Timi-Biu (Three Little Birds) and Satya Bhabha (Gossip Girl), with Taylor making his directorial debut with the show's series finale. Ali MacPhail returns as producer, Carleen Beadle-Larcombe as Line Producer, and Mykaell Riley as Musical Director. Taylor is also an executive producer alongside Madeleine Sinclair for Studio Lambert and Nawfal Faizullah for the BBC.

Boarders Season 3 will begin production in the latter half of 2025, with an expected release in the first half of 2026 on the BBC and Tubi.