‘The Artful Dodger’ Returns for a Third & Final Outing
'The Artful Dodger' is in for one more season of medical mysteries.
Somewhere in another timeline – one where Disney+ did not fumble its immediate lead in subscribers at the end of 2019 – The Artful Dodger is a massive global hit. On paper, the series has everything going for it. It’s based on one of Charles Dickens’ most famous works, Oliver Twist, focusing on the fate of two of its most famous characters: The Artful Dodger and Fagin, exploring their adventures after being sent to Australia’s penal colonies at the end of the novel.
The series is led by two beloved child stars in the roles of Jack “Artful Dodger” Dawkins and his love interest, Lady Belle Fox – one from the U.K. and one from Australia – who successfully made the leap to adult roles. It co-stars a longtime fan favorite in the role of not-exactly-reformed-antagonist Fagin, doing a pitch-perfect lovable anti-hero rascal sidekick. Most importantly, it takes a period drama set in the 1850s in Victorian-era Australia – a fascinating time and place that is rarely covered in period dramas – and turns it into that long-running bastion of television: a medical mystery case-of-the-week series.
However, Disney+’s inability to cohesively pick a release strategy in the U.S. cost the streaming service its lead. Moreover, with shows bouncing back and forth between its flagship streaming service and the “five streaming services in a trench coat” known as Hulu, viewers couldn’t find shows like The Artful Dodger, even if they knew the series was being dropped as a binge with little marketing.
Despite everyone’s best efforts, the series has struggled along for two seasons, and will be allowed to conclude with Season 3 – a respectable run, but nothing near what it should have been.
There is no synopsis for Season 3 yet; however, one assumes the third and final season will pick up not long after the Season 2 cliffhanger, which included Fagin waking up after being buried alive while trying to evade arrest by medically pretending to be “dead.” (Man is six feet under in box, y’all. If he’s not dug up before the end of the premiere, they’ll be no longer pretending about the dead part.) Meanwhile, Dawkins changed his mind at the last minute about joining the navy to flee Australia and reunited with Lady Belle on the docks of Port Victory.
Maia Mitchell Thomas Brodie-Sangster, and David Thewlis in 'The Artful Dodger' Season 2 (Disney)
Season 3 has confirmed the returns of Thomas Brodie-Sangster (Wolf Hall) as Jack Dawkins, David Thewlis (Sherlock & Daughter) as Norbert Fagin, and Maia Mitchell (The Fosters) as Lady Belle Fox. More casting is expected in due course.
Series co-creator Andrew Knight will once again pen the episodes. Directors Ben Young and Ben C. Lucas will split helming duties, with Chris Martin-Jones producing. Joe McNamara created the series along with David Maher and David Taylor and executive produces with Jo Porter & Rachel Gardner for Curio.
Filming for The Artful Dodger Season 3 will commence before the end of 2026, and it is expected to be released by the end of 2027.
The Artful Dodger Seasons 1 and 2 are streaming on Disney+ and Hulu.
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