Sacred Games is a Netflix crime thriller based on Vikram Chandra’s 2006 novel of the same name, which was adapted for television by Varun Grover, Smita Singh, and Vasant Nath. The series is the first Netflix original to be produced in India (via Business Insider), and it has proven to be a successful move thus far, providing broad audiences with access to Indian media beyond Bollywood films.
The crime-filled drama follows Sartaj Singh (Saif Ali Khan), a Mumbai police officer who is assigned the task of saving the entire city from disaster after receiving a call from gangster Ganesh Gaitonde (Nawazuddin Siddiqui). The series, which has received positive reviews overall — it has a Tomatometer score of 76 percent and an audience score of 83 percent on Rotten Tomatoes — has two seasons available for binge-watching so far. Given that the season 2 finale ended on a cliffhanger, fans are undoubtedly curious about a possible third season of the series — here’s what we know so far.
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When will the third season be available?
Sacred Games will not return for a third season, according to Netflix. Because the show has already used all of its source material with Chandra’s book, it appears that it could go either way, but the second season did end on a cliffhanger, which may indicate that there is more to come. Nawazuddin Siddiqui, who plays one of the leads, has spoken out about the possibility of a third season, stating that he does not believe it will happen. He stated in an interview: “Everything from the original novel that needed to be said has already been saying. There is nothing left in Vikram Chandra’s novel that can be included in Season 3.”
While this announcement may disappoint the show’s many fans, it has yet to be confirmed by Netflix — and the streaming platform has the final say. Siddiqui could have been speculating, or plans could have changed after that, but there’s no way of knowing for sure until Netflix makes an announcement.
The second season was released in August of 2019, which seems like an inordinately long time to go without hearing anything about a third season. The global pandemic of 2020, on the other hand, impacted nearly every show and film in development, resulting in numerous pushbacks and postponements, so the extended period since the season 2 premiere isn’t necessarily indicative of anything concrete.
Who will appear in the Season 3 cast?
Any season of Sacred Games would be incomplete without its two main characters, Sartaj Singh and Ganesh Gaitonde, played by Saif Ali Khan and Nawazuddin Siddiqui. These two are the only two cast members who have been credited as main characters for both seasons, so any potential third season will most likely follow suit.
Some of the characters in this crime-filled and action-packed plot did not survive until the end of season 2. Indeed, some of the deaths were shocking, such as that of Anjali Mathur (Radhika Apte), a research and analysis officer who was shot by Murad Malcolm (Luke Kenny) while on a case. Another notable death was Majid Khan (Aamir Bashir), who was assassinated by Shahid Khan (Ranvir Shorey) just as he and Sartaj had discovered the bomb they were looking for. In addition, Ganesh assassinated cult leader Khanna Guruji (Pankaj Tripathi).
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What will the plot of Season 3 entail?
Officers Sartaj and Majid discovered the nuclear bomb at the end of Season 2 after searching for it in haste before it went off — but Majid was shot by Shahid just as they discovered it. Sartaj shot Shahid, killing him, while the bomb was ticking away because Shahid refused to reveal the pattern used as a password to unlock the bomb. With time running out, everyone except Sartaj accepted that the bomb would detonate — except for Sartaj, who persisted in attempting to crack the password. Sartaj eventually figured out the password, which was “the shape of the Radcliffe Line or the international border between India and Pakistan during India’s partition,” as Fansided explained. Finally, the shot cuts out before revealing whether or not the bomb detonated.
If the show is renewed for a third season, the plot will most likely pick up right where this cliffhanger ended, revealing whether or not the password worked. If the show continued, it’s likely that the password was successful, and the plot could shift to focus on the fallout from the entire situation. The first two seasons covered the contents of the book on which the show is based, giving the writers complete freedom to take the story in any direction they saw fit.