Donald Glover on ‘Atlanta’: “We Just Wanted to Make a Black Fairytale”

On Saturday night, Donald Glover and select Atlanta cast and crew appeared at SXSW in Austin for a premiere screening of the third season.

Donald Glover is making his rounds ahead of the season three premiere of Atlanta on Friday. Glover — with Stephen Glover, Zazie Beetz, Stefani Robinson and Hiro Murai in tow — stopped by Paramount Theatre in Austin during SXSW on Saturday to discuss the upcoming season along with the fourth and final installment.

“All good things end. It felt like it was time to end,” he shared, according to Variety. “I don’t like it when people [are] 40 pretending like they’re 15 and shit. It’s annoying.”

Glover also spoke with VIBE, teasing that season three is more about Van than Earn, to which Beetz obliged.

“I don’t want to give anything away. I think it’s a very honest season. I think all of the characters are sort of out of their element, which allows things to rise to the surface that you would otherwise be able to, in [both] habits and in comfort, suppress. Here, you can’t because you have nothing to catch you. I think it’s a lot of truth, and I think reflections of where we’re all at as ourselves and as people.”

In the forthcoming third season, coined “Visitors”, characters Earn, Paper Boi, Darius and Van embark on a European tour, complete with absurd misadventures.

“It’s our point of view; it’s not really about the place,” Donald said. “Although in Season 4, it makes a very heavy resurgence, as far as the actual place. Atlanta is a state of mind. Europe solidified how we felt [while writing] Season 3. [Director Hiro Murai] calls it our maximum season.”

Glover also revealed that Jaden Smith was supposed to make an appearance on the series, something that could potentially happen as a series loosie.

“We never did it because Jaden Smith was busy. We were supposed to release it online, just read[ing the script], which we still could do. Stephen wrote it. It’s really good.”

Season three opener “Three Slaps” will barely feature the main characters of Atlanta, instead following a boy named Loquareeous (Christopher Farrar).

““I like to describe Atlanta as a group thread in real life. We’re just shitting a group text thread,” said series writer and producer Stefani Robinson on “Three Slaps.” “We’re just cobbling together internet videos that make us laugh.”

“We just wanted to make a black fairytale,” Glover added. “I remember sitting in the writers’ room and being like, ‘What do we write about?’ We just wanted to do short stories. Something I would want to watch.”

The third season of Atlanta premieres on March 24th.