This article contains spoilers for Legion Season 2 and discussion of sexual violence.


After a show-redefining Season 2 finale, what can we expect from Legion Season 3? One thing "Chapter 19" of FX's mind-bending mutant show made abundantly clear is how important it is that Legion was renewed for Season 3. The explosive finale explores David's complicated (and crowded) mental state that seems more akin to his comic book iteration... and sets David up to be a villain after all.

When David Haller argues with two of his other personalities in his head over whether he is delusional, his fate already seems bleak; one of them tells him that his underlying delusion that has clouded his judgment throughout the show is the belief that he is a good person who deserves love. David refuses to face the idea that he is not a "good guy" responsible for saving the world from Farouk and other villains.

But David's belief that he "deserves love" takes a dark turn. Syd and David have a confrontation over David's actions in the past, present, and future; she attempts to shoot him, believing that he is too dangerous to be kept unchecked. David survives, however, and wipes Syd's memory in an effort to save their relationship. After he has sex with her, his manipulation of her memories is found out by Cary, Farouk, and Syd. Farouk taunts David, telling him that David's abusive control of Syd is like Farouk's control of David — and just like David hates Farouk, Syd will come to hate David.

When David is confronted by Cary, Syd, and Division 3, they tell him that he is sick, and will need to take medication and go to therapy or else. David is furious, and Syd tells him clearly: "You drugged me and had sex with me." David is unable to confront this reality — after all, if he is the good guy who is fighting for love — and his horror quickly turns to anger. David escapes with Lenny, leaving Syd and the others to wonder what happens next.

LEGION'S SHOWRUNNER CALLS THE SHOW 'A TRAGEDY'



Suffice to say, Legion Season 3 looks bleak. In an interview with The Wrap, showrunner Noah Hawley described Legion as a "tragedy". In the eyes of the showrunner, David may have always been doomed. But despite the intentions of the people behind the show, Hawley notes that the most important element of tragedy is that the events feel avoidable:

"Tragedy is different from drama. Tragedy has elements of the preventable to it, this idea that were a different choice to have been made, or events to have unfolded differently, we wouldn’t be in this mess, but we are. What makes it tragic is it was avoidable."

The threat of David's future actions drove a wedge between Syd and David, a wedge that seems to have caused David to turn into a villain. The ending of the show's second season opens up so many "ifs" and "ands" that could have changed David's fate, and yet, at the same time, his descent feels inevitable.

Considering the structure of tragedy, it's quite possible that Hawley's trajectory could end in David's death. Whether this comes in Season 3, of course, depends if it's really the end of Legion, or just another act in his fall. Given that as the show's low ratings in season two did not stop it from being renewed, fans might be lucky here.

WILL LEGION SEASON 3 START TO MIRROR THE COMICS?



While Noah Hawley's show has only loosely pulled material from the comics, there were certain parts of Legion Season 2 that seemed to be more directly influenced by the source material than Season 1. In one sequence in Season 2, David even sports the taller hair that is the signature of his comic book counterpart.

In the most recent episode, he debates with two different personalities within his head, seeming to confirm that the television character, like the comic book character, suffers from dissociative identity disorder. In Legion Season three, these and other personalities of David's could be explored.


WHO WILL RETURN IN LEGION SEASON 3? AND WHEN?


All of the characters in Legion Season 2 could conceivably return in Season 3, which is part of the beauty of a show that trades in delusions, mental palaces, and dreams. However, Melanie and Oliver's appearance in the ice cube makes it seem as though they have separated themselves from the struggles at hand. Syd, Cary, Kerry, Ptonomy (within the Division 3 mind of Admiral Fukuyama), Clark, and Division 3 could all join forces in an attempt to stop David... in fact, even the Shadow King himself could join forces with them. Fan favorite Aubrey Plaza will doubtlessly return as Lenny, the one character who appears to have sided with David.

Legion had a one-year time jump between the end of Season 1 and the beginning of Season 2, which could allow the showrunners to pick up in a new and terrifying future. The "future" of Legion Season 2 could easily become the "present" of Season 3, or the new timeline may not resemble the previous future at all. Will Syd still attempt to kidnap David now that she knows how it backfires? Or will she devise a new strategy? There's a lot of questions, although the biggest centers on David himself.

WILL DAVID BE THE ANTAGONIST OF LEGION SEASON 3?



Legion has re-imagined itself many times over its first two seasons, and the third season should be no different. If Legion wants to continue to push boundaries within television, it should commit to making David a villain, rather than trying to save him. David persisted in his belief that he was the good guy, even as he tortured and beat his enemies and manipulated and abused his friends and girlfriend. Instead of changing his behavior to fit his beliefs, he simply ignored the parts of himself that were inconsistent with how he understood himself.

In Legion Season 2, David crosses many lines, and his parallels with Farouk are clear. David is no longer and can no longer be the hero of Legion. Since Hawley imagines Legion as a tragedy, a redemption arc seems unlikely, but given the revelations in the Season 2 finale, an attempt to redeem David would feel more like a retcon rather than addressing David's actions.

Luckily, Legion has a new hero who can save the day, someone who stood up to David, and, despite being an underdog, may be able to find a way to defeat him: Syd. Syd has grown from the manic pixie dream girl that didn't seem to have any interiority of her own into a tough and smart woman who chooses to trust herself more than she trusts "her man". When Syd confronts David and holds him at gunpoint at the beginning of the Season 2 finale, she tells him that he isn't the good guy. He doesn't understand, incredulously asking: "Then who is?" She responds with a bullet, and: "Me." The hero of Legion has been there all along. She just didn't know who she was or who she would have to become.