''The Third Day'' is a

psychological thriller Psychological thriller is a genre combining the thriller and psychological fiction genres. It is commonly used to describe literature or films that deal with psychological narratives in a thriller or thrilling setting. In terms of context and co ...

folk horror Folk horror is a subgenre of horror film that uses elements of folklore to invoke fear and foreboding. Typical elements include a rural setting, isolation, and themes of superstition, folk religion, paganism, sacrifice and the dark aspects of natu ...

drama Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has been ...

television serial created by Felix Barrett and

Dennis Kelly Dennis Kelly is a British scriptwriter for theatre, television and film. His play ''DNA'', first performed in 2007, became a core set-text for GCSE in 2010 and has been studied by approximately 400,000 students each year. He wrote the book ...

for

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American premium television network, which is the flagship property of namesake parent subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is ba ...

and

Sky Atlantic Sky Atlantic is a British pay television channel owned by Sky Group Limited broadcast in the United Kingdom and Ireland. The channel is primarily dedicated to imported programmes from the United States, and holds the domestic rights to HBO ...

. The series premiered in the United States on 14 September 2020, on

, and in the United Kingdom on 15 September 2020, on

Premise

The series chronicles the individual journeys of a man and woman who arrive on a mysterious island at different times. The production is split into three interconnected parts. The first, "Summer", directed by

Marc Munden Marc Munden is an English film director best known for his work on ''Utopia'', '' National Treasure'' and '' The Mark of Cain'' among others. Early life Munden was born in London, England. His father, Maxwell Munden, was a filmmaker who made film ...

, follows Sam (played by

Jude Law David Jude Heyworth Law (born 29 December 1972) is an English actor. He received a British Academy Film Award, as well as nominations for two Academy Awards, two Tony Awards, and four Golden Globe Awards. In 2007, he received an Honorary Césa ...

), a man drawn to a mysterious island off the English coast where he encounters a group of islanders set on preserving their traditions at any cost. The second part of the production, "Autumn", was broadcast in the format of a twelve-hour live event on the island. Described by the producers of the show as a "major immersive theatre event", the live segment of the show aired in one continuous take and is intended to allow followers of ''The Third Day'' to "inhabit the story as it happens". It features Jude Law and other members of the series cast. Part 2 also features singer

Florence Welch Florence Leontine Mary Welch (born 28 August 1986) is an English singer, the lead vocalist and primary songwriter of the indie rock band Florence and the Machine. The band's debut studio album, ''Lungs'' (2009), topped the UK Albums Chart and wo ...

. The third part of the series, "Winter", directed by

Philippa Lowthorpe Philippa Lowthorpe (born 27 December 1961) is an English film and television director. She was awarded the Deluxe Director Award at the WFTV Film and Television Awards for the miniseries '' Three Girls''. She recently directed episodes of the ...

, follows Helen (played by

Naomie Harris Naomie Melanie Harris (born 6 September 1976) is a British actress. She started her career when she was a child, appearing in the television series ''Simon and the Witch'' in 1987. She portrayed Selena in the zombie film ''28 Days Later'' (2002 ...

), a strong-willed outsider who comes to the island seeking answers but whose arrival precipitates a fractious battle to decide its fate.

Cast

Main

as Sam *

Katherine Waterston Katherine Boyer Waterston (born March 3, 1980) is a British-American actress. She made her feature film debut in ''Michael Clayton'' (2007). She had supporting roles in films including ''Robot & Frank,'' ''Being Flynn'' (both 2012) and ''The Di ...

as Jess * John Dagleish as Larry *

Mark Lewis Jones Mark Lewis Jones (born 31 August, 1964) is a Welsh actor, whose roles include that of a First Order Captain Moden Canady in '' Star Wars: The Last Jedi'', a police inspector in BBC drama series '' 55 Degrees North'', a whaler in the film '' Ma ...

as Jason *Jessie Ross as Epona *

Richard Bremmer Richard Bremmer (born 27 January 1953) is an English actor. Early life Bremmer was born and brought up in Warwickshire. Career Bremmer first began his career in the short film of ''Couples and Robbers'' before being in his first full-length fi ...

as "The Father" *

Paddy Considine Patrick George Considine (born 5 September 1973) is an English actor, director, and screenwriter. He frequently collaborates with filmmaker/director Shane Meadows. He has received two British Academy Film Awards, three Evening Standard Britis ...

as Mr. Martin *

Emily Watson Emily Margaret Watson (born 14 January 1967) is an English actress. She began her career on stage and joined the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1992. In 2002, she starred in productions of ''Twelfth Night'' and ''Uncle Vanya'' at the Donmar War ...

as Mrs. Martin *

Freya Allan Freya Allan (born 6 September 2001) is an English actress. She is best known for her role as Princess Cirilla of Cintra in the Netflix series ''The Witcher''. She also appears as young Sam in the 2021 film ''Gunpowder Milkshake'' and as the yo ...

as Kail *Börje Lundberg as Professor Mimir *

as Veronica *

Paul Kaye Paul Kaye (born 15 December 1964) is an English comedian and actor. He is known for his portrayals of shock interviewer Dennis Pennis on ''The Sunday Show'', New York lawyer Mike Strutter on MTV's ''Strutter'', Thoros of Myr in HBO's ''Game of ...

as "The Cowboy" *

as Helen *

Nico Parker Nico Parker (born 9 December 2004) is an English actress. She made her film debut as Milly Farrier in the Walt Disney Pictures film ''Dumbo'' (2019), directed by Tim Burton. She is the daughter of film director and screenwriter Ol Parker and a ...

as Ellie *Charlotte Gairdner-Mihell as Talulah

Recurring

*Stanley Auckland as "Nathan" *Will Rogers as Danny *Amer Chadha-Patel as the preacher *Lauren Byrne as Mya *Tom Lawrence as Tomo *

Anna Calder-Marshall Anna Calder-Marshall (born 11 January 1947) is an English stage, film and television actress. Personal life Calder-Marshall was born in Kensington, London, and is the daughter of the novelist and essayist Arthur Calder-Marshall and documentary ...

as Margaret *George Potts as Alan *

Hilton McRae Hilton McRae (born 28 December 1949) is a Scottish actor, working in theatre, television and film. Career McRae was part of the radical theatre group 7:84 before graduating from the University of Edinburgh, and by 1977 he had joined the Royal ...

as Janny

Episodes

Production

The series was commissioned in June 2019, with the announcement that

was cast in the lead role.

was hired to direct the first three episodes, with

writing. In July,

and

were added to the cast.

and John Dagleish were added in August, with

hired to direct the final three episodes of the series. Kit de Waal and Dean O'Loughlin also joined Kelly to co-write two episodes. The series is set on

Osea Island Osea Island ( oe, Ōsgȳþes īeg, "Osyth's island"), formerly also Osey, is an inhabited island in the estuary of the River Blackwater, Essex, East England. It is approximately in size and is connected to the north bank of the river by a cau ...

and its causeway. Filming began on the series in July 2019 in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...

and

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

. Production visited many locations in

for filming, including Fog Signal Station at Dungeness, Allens Farm, Harty Ferry Road near Harty Ferry Inn in Swale, Walpole Bay Tidal Pool, St Clere Estate, Bedgebury National Pinetum Forest, Hever Castle, Grain Coastal Park on the

Isle of Grain Isle of Grain (Old English ''Greon'', meaning gravel) is a village and the easternmost point of the Hoo Peninsula within the district of Medway in Kent, south-east England. No longer an island and now forming part of the peninsula, the area is ...

, Chislehurst Caves and Shellness Beach on the

Isle of Sheppey The Isle of Sheppey is an island off the northern coast of Kent, England, neighbouring the Thames Estuary, centred from central London. It has an area of . The island forms part of the local government district of Swale. ''Sheppey'' is derived ...

Release

The series was initially set to premiere in the United States on

on 11 May 2020, and on

on 12 May 2020. In April 2020, HBO and Sky pulled the series from the schedule due to post-production on the series being affected by the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

. It was subsequently rescheduled for a 14 September premiere in the U.S., and 15 September in the UK. The first episodes of both the "Summer" and "Winter" parts premiered as part of the Primetime section of the 2020 Toronto International Film Festival on 11 September 2020. The "Autumn" live event was broadcast live in the UK on

Sky Arts Sky Arts (originally launched as Artsworld) is a British free-to-air television channel offering 24 hours a day of programmes dedicated to highbrow arts, including theatrical performances, movies, documentaries and music (such as opera perfor ...

and streamed for free via the

Sky UK Sky UK Limited is a British broadcaster and telecommunications company that provides television and broadband Internet services, fixed line and mobile telephone services to consumers and businesses in the United Kingdom. It is a subsidiary of ...

and HBO

Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin M ...

pages, on 3 October 2020.

Reception

Critical response

For the miniseries, review aggregator

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

reported an approval rating of 76% based on 41 reviews, with an average rating of 7.03/10. The website's critics consensus reads, "With a sufficiently arresting atmosphere and captivating performances from stars Jude Law and Naomie Harris, ''The Third Day'' is an intriguing—if overly familiar—addition to the folk-horror genre."

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

gave the miniseries a weighted average score of 68 out of 100 based on 15 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

U.S. ratings

Footnotes

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Third Day, The 2020 British television series debuts 2020 British television series endings 2020s British television miniseries 2020s British drama television series 2020s British mystery television series English-language television shows HBO original programming Sky Atlantic original programming Television shows filmed in the United Kingdom Television shows set in Essex Television series by Scott Free Productions