Season Three

Spoiler warning!
This article contains plot details.

The Third Season of Salem was announced on July 11^th, 2015.^[1]

It was officially announced on the 11^th July 2015, during San Diego Comic-Con that Salem was renewed for a third season. The final season consists of 10 episodes and production began earlier last year, with the season premiere airing on Halloween week, Wednesday, November 2, 2016. On December 13, 2016; the show was announced that it was cancelled and no fourth season was to follow. ^[2]

The season finale was broadcast on January 25, 2017. It also served as the series finale.

Summary

Continuing its bloody, sexy and fantastical reimagining of Colonial America, “Salem’s” third season dawns with the triumph of the witches’ plan to remake the New World by bringing the devil to earth and making Salem his capital. But the devil is a liar, and instead of a New World free from murderous Puritan hypocrisy, his own plan will bring nothing but death and slavery with the ultimate aim of leading humanity to destroy itself. And there’s only one person on earth who can beat the devil — the very witch that birthed him, his mother, Mary Sibley — the only problem is she’s dead. Or is she?^[3]

Credits

Starring

Special Guest Starring

Jeremy Crutchley as Wendell Hathorne^[6]
Samuel Roukin as The Sentinel
Lucy Lawless as Countess Von Marburg (voice only)
Stephen Lang as Increase Mather (voice only)
Marilyn Manson as Thomas Dinley ^[7]

Co-Starring

Jonny Coyne as Treasurer Putnam^[8]
Ashlyn Pearce as Alice Land
Nadine Lewington as Rebecca Nurse^[9]
Morgana Shaw as Essex Elder
Azure Parsons as Gloriana Embry
Owen Harn as Militia Leader
Emily Skeggs as Billy
Timothy Fall as French Commander
Meagen Fay as Mrs Stoughton
Emma Claire Wynn as Dorcas
Robert Pricardo as Mr Stoughton
Clint James as Towering Bird Dick Man/Isaac's Man
Shelby Lang as Lark

Episodes

No.	Title	Writer	Director	Airdate
1	"After the Fall"	Brannon Braga & Adam Simon	Nick Copus	November 2, 2016
1	Salem’s only hope to survive the hell that has risen is to raise the dead.
2	"The Heart Is A Devil"	Adam Simon	Tim Andrews	November 9, 2016
2	Mary leaves the comfort of Alden's embrace, determined to do whatever it takes to keep evil at bay.
3	"The Reckoning"	Kelly Souders & Brian Peterson	Wayne Yip	November 16, 2016
3	Mary’s penance for her betrayal takes a deadly turn while Cotton is forced to perform an exorcism of his own.
4	"Night's Black Agents"	Brannon Braga and Adam Simon	Joe Dante	November 30, 2016
4	Cotton discovers life-altering news while Mary learns the power of her femininity.
5	"The Commonwealth of Hell"	Adam Simon	Nick Copus	December 07, 2016
5	A traitor is exposed while a ghost from Salem’s past makes a shocking appearance.
6	"Wednesday's Child"	Adam Simon & Donna Thorland	Peter Weller	December 14, 2016
6	Mary and Alden’s twisted love is put to the ultimate test and Anne plunges into dark magic.
7	"The Man Who Was Thursday"	Brian Peterson & Kelly Souders	Jennifer Lynch	January 4, 2017
7	A dangerous move by Mary leads to loyalties being tested.
8	"Friday's Knights"	Adam Simon & Donna Thorland	Nick Copus	January 11, 2017
8	Mortal enemies come together in order to keep all hell from literally breaking loose.
9	"Saturday Mourning"	Kelly Souders & Brian Peterson	Jennifer Lynch	January 18, 2017
9	Hearts are broken as true colors are exposed and out of all of them, one's heart beats blacker than the rest.
10	"Black Sunday"	Adam Simon	Brannon Braga	January 25, 2017
10	Everyone prepares on the eve of Salem's demise. Only one question remains: who will survive?

Production

Production began on January 21, 2016 accompanying the date with the revelation that the famous singer Marilyn Manson, already songwriter of the main theme, will join the show as a special guest cast. Joe Doyle, who was already in Season Two's opening credits, was officially promoted to the regular cast. On February 8, 2016 Janet Montgomery posted a photo on her Instagram account, confirming her return on set for filming Season Three ^[10]. On April 5^th, 2016 Shane West has released a post on his Instagram account, confirming that the premiere of the third season has been postponed to the Halloween weekend^[11].

Salem is shooting for 70 days in Shreveport and Grand Cane, Louisiana. Fox is producing 10 episodes of Season 3 for WGN America which works out to seven days per episode. ^[12]

Promotional images featuring earlier photoshoots were released from September 2015.

On February 11, 2016 Janet Montgomery posted a photo on her official Instagram account giving to understand that something related to Salem would be released on Easter. ^[13]

On March 11, 2016 Joe Doyle teased a possible return of Lucy Lawless as the infamous Countess Von Marburg in the third season.^[14].

The third season was promoted in an issue of the Starry Constellation Magazine, announcing the casting of Samuel Roukin.^[15]

Production designer John Zachary has made significant anticipations regarding the upcoming third season on Louisiana Film & Video Magazine - Issue #1 2016. The mysterious Thomas Dinley, the new barber played by Marilyn Manson, will have a "barbershop nothing short of appalling, where he will offer the services of his razor not only for trimming beards...". He also revealed that the reckless witch Mercy Lewis will be the madame of a brothel in Knocker's Hole called Bird's Nest, in honor of her bird familiar.^[16]

John Zachary give further insight on the set, revealing that new sets are constructed by recycling previous locations, such as the study of Dr. Wainwright from Season 2. He also confirmed that every season has its own color tone. The third season is predominantly red and gold.^[16]

Director Joe Dante and cast member Shane West stated that this season will see the presence of many animals on set.^[16]

Filming scenes including actor Oliver Bell slowed the production of Season 3, because of the working terms of underage actors. Bad weather has also contributed to having to re-shoot a lot of scenes.^[16]

First official promotional images were released along with third season special on August 2, 2016. They were marketed with the dooming hashtag #PrayForSalem.

On 14 December 2016, Brannon Braga revealed on Twitter that they knew the third season was going to be the last in the series. ^[2]

Trivia

Tamzin Merchant finished shooting season 3 on April 29, 2016. ^[17]
When asked by a fan what a potential fourth season for Salem would entail, Brannon Braga replied by saying that it would likely involve Cotton Mather somehow escaping Hell and returning to a war-torn and impoverished Salem that he described as "worse than Hell itself" to stop Anne Hale's malicious plans. While Braga made no mention of Mary Sibley in the tweet, it is not unlikely that she could return to Salem to help stop Anne. ^{Citation Needed}