‘Mr. Robot’ Season 3 Follows Elliot’s “Next Stage” in Battle with Mental Disorder; Angela’s Motivations to be Revealed

‘Mr. Robot’ season 3 is set to follow Elliot as he struggles with the “next stage” of his battle with mental disorder. Meanwhile, Angela’s motivations may finally be revealed.

According to Yahoo! Tech, series creator Sam Esmail revealed during a panel attended by Screen Actors Guild (SAG) voters that season 3 will feature Elliot’s (Rami Malek) next stage in the battle with his mental disorder. Esmail said, “The Mr. Robot (Christian Slater) character has to reflect what stage Elliot is in, and how to handle that disorder… The second season was about the battle.” He described season 3 in one word: “Disintegration.”

During a previous interview, Esmail teased that Elliot will undergo a transformation. He said, “Season three, and the way I’ve been thinking about it, is sort of the return to Elliot — but not the naive Elliot we saw at the beginning of the season. It’s the Elliot we’ve seen go through this horrific experience from the first and second seasons, and with all of that in mind, that’s going to make this new Elliot come into fruition in the next season.”

The American drama-thriller television series created by Esmail follows Elliot, cybersecurity engineer and hacker plagued with clinical depression, dissociative identity disorder, and social anxiety disorder. His thoughts seem to be influenced by severe paranoia and delusions. He creates a mysterious insurrectionary anarchist by the name of Mr. Robot and joins a team of “hacktivists” known as fsociety whose mission is to cancel consumer debt by destroying a large corporation’s data.

During a separate interview with Entertainment Weekly, Esmail also addressed Angela’s (Portia Doubleday) story arc as well as the character’s mysterious motivations. When asked about the biggest questions fans may have following season 2’s massive cliffhanger, Esmail replied, “I think the one big one will be “What happened to Angela? Has she really been flipped? Or is she now playing some other motivation?” And I think that’s great.”

He continued, “I know that people sometimes get frustrated that we leave Angela’s motivations in the dark, but I think that’s what adds to the intrigue of her. That’s why I’m so continually fascinated by her character: You can’t quite nail her down to which side she’s playing. It feels like she’s always playing both sides. I think that’s going to be a big question.”

‘Mr. Robot’ season 3 was commissioned on the USA Network last August 2016. It is expected to air sometime in 2017.