When “The Traitors” debuted on Peacock in January 2023, all 10 episodes of Season 1 dropped at the same time. Two years and as many seasons later, the reality-TV competition set in a Scottish Highlands castle has become weekly appointment television for fans who helped January’s Season 3 premiere become the No. 1 unscripted series in the country. And it’s a three-time Emmy winner to boot. Season 2 toppled reigning champ “RuPaul’s Drag Race” to win Outstanding Reality Competition and host Alan Cumming bested RuPaul, who dominated the Outstanding Reality Host category for eight consecutive years. (It also won for casting.)
“It was mind-blowing to be recognized, honestly,” executive producer Sam Rees-Jones said. “We know we are a baby within the genre, so we were just blown away. All we can do as program-makers is make the best season possible. And every year we take a step back and we look at what we can do better, what we can improve. Nothing’s off the table.”
That was clear in Season 3, which shook up the format. Once again, personalities from other reality shows schemed and lied as they tried to determine who was a Faithful, who would participate in challenges to win money while trying to ferret out and banish the Traitors among them, and who were the Traitors, who would “murder” another player every night in an attempt to keep the pot of up to $250,000 for themselves.
But for the first time, new players joined after the game had started, including ultimate shit-stirrer Boston Rob Mariano of “Survivor” fame. It also brought back controversial Season 2 contestants Parvati Shallow (another “Survivor” vet) and Kate Chastain from “Below Deck” to mess with players’ heads for an episode. And in the biggest twist, a rule change in the finale made it harder for the remaining players to pick out Traitors and decide when to end the game.
“It’s really important that we don’t rest on our laurels,” EP Rosie Franks said. “The format’s brilliant, but we’ve got to keep challenging it and pushing it and keeping the players on their toes to keep it interesting. We trust the format because it is a strategy game. Every single cast will play it differently, and although we’ll mix it up and throw other things in, essentially the heart of that game is what is such compelling viewing.”
Rees-Jones added: “Going into our third season, we were able to be bolder with our choices. We had more fun in Season 3 with Alan’s wardrobe or scripting or the music, things that we’ve created for this world. And we feel confident in this world now.”
At the very center of that world is Cumming himself, who serves as an executive producer in addition to the deliciously over-the-top host. From the outset, his showstopping ward- robe, designed by Sam Spector, has been an integral part of the drama. In Season 3, his looks included a white suit/wed- ding gown with a veil and a puffy-sleeved blue-and-gold velvet number meant to evoke Mary, Queen of Scots.
“We decided that I was going to play this character, this dandy Scottish laird,” Cumming said. “It’s so insane when you think about it, me going, ‘Players, welcome,’ and that people actually believe it is my castle, which I love. (My wardrobe) really made the show. The first season is me wearing a series of tartan suits that were mostly mine with berries and scarves and things (Sam) made to juice them up, but now it’s gone on to another level. It makes it easier for me, because I’m so obviously not me (on the show). It makes it more the character when you get a costume like that.”
“The Traitors” has already been renewed for two more sea- sons; Season 4 begins production in June for a targeted January 2026 premiere. The producing team wouldn’t divulge the identities of the new cast, saying only that they look for people “who are going to come and play hard,” as Franks put it.
When it comes to casting, Cumming largely defers to his fellow EPs. “I really trust their judgment, because they know the people more than I do,” he said. “I don’t have a clue as to who some of them are. That’s why I do all that research and have their pictures on the wall, all these research notes.” He looks forward to working with the team to select the Traitors, which happens only after the full cast has arrived at the castle and started mingling—or clashing, as the case may be. “There’s usually quite a few ideas floating around, but it’s about the combo and how they will interact, what a good match they’ll make, TV-wise,” he said. “I love it when somebody really doesn’t want to be (a Traitor). I think, Ohhh, let’s make them.”
This story originally ran in the Race Begins issue of TheWrap’s awards magazine. Read more from the issue here.
