Even great shows tend to overstay their welcome, but some of the very best are smart enough to go out on top. When it’s over, Pose, Ryan Murphy’s groundbreaking series about New York City’s drag ball scene in the 1980s, will only have three seasons to its name. The trailer for the final season shows that it’s trying to go out on top, bravely barreling further into the brink of the AIDS crisis.
Billy Porter reprises his star-making, Emmy-winning turn as Pray Tell, fashion designer and ballroom show emcee, shown warmly reminiscing about an era that’s about to come to an untimely end. We see our main cast — including Indya Moore’s trans prostitute-turned-hospital worker — finding strength in their makeshift family. And we see glimpses of the fight they have in front of them: against a brutal disease that descended upon their community and against the rich and powerful who did nothing to stop it.
But it’s clear the third and final season won’t be strictly defined by tragedy. The ball shows must go on, and the protagonists of Pose are shown rallying the troops, banding together, even celebrating all they’ve accomplished. “We are just gonna be ourselves and that’s it,” says Moore’s Angel, and it’s a reminder that some show’s are about quality, not quantity.
You can watch the trailer in the video above.