If you've been refreshing your Crunchyroll queue hoping for any sign of Sung Jinwoo returning, here's the update you've been waiting for. Crunchyroll president Rahul Purini has confirmed that Solo Leveling season 3 is actively in production, and a formal announcement from the creators could be coming sooner than expected.
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What Purini actually said
Purini's words were measured but unmistakably positive. "Nothing to announce, but we are just as eager as the fans for the next show," he said. "We know the creators are actively working on it, so hopefully we can announce something soon."
That's not a vague non-answer. That's a platform president telling you the production pipeline is moving and Crunchyroll is in the loop. For a series that wrapped its second season over a year ago with zero official follow-up, this is real news.
Why the wait has felt so long
Solo Leveling debuted in 2024 and moved fast. Season 2, subtitled Arise from the Shadow, landed in 2025 and picked up directly where the first season left off, following Jinwoo as he fully steps into his role as the Shadow Monarch. Director Shunsuke Nakashige, head writer Noboru Kimura, and character designer Tomoko Sudo returned for the second run, and the results spoke for themselves.
The show is now Crunchyroll's most-streamed series of all time. Full stop. At the 2025 Anime Awards, it swept four major categories: Anime of the Year, Best New Series, Best Action Anime, and Best Main Character for Sung Jinwoo. That kind of performance puts enormous pressure on A-1 Pictures to deliver a third season that matches the scale of what came before, which likely explains the extended development window.
A-1 Pictures is scheduled to hold a panel at Anime Expo 2026, which has led fans to speculate a season 3 trailer or first look could drop there. No official confirmation yet, but the timing lines up.
The Anime Expo angle fans are watching
Here's the thing: the Anime Expo 2026 panel from A-1 Pictures has the community buzzing. The studio held a similar panel ahead of season 2 news, and history repeating itself would be a very welcome pattern. Some fans are also expecting a season 2 compilation film to arrive before season 3, mirroring what happened with season 1's recap movie release.
None of this is confirmed. But Purini's comments, combined with the Anime Expo panel timing, suggest the announcement window is narrowing.
What this means for fans right now
No release date exists yet. What does exist is a confirmed production status and a distributor that's clearly invested in the next chapter. Crunchyroll doesn't casually drop comments about upcoming seasons unless the relationship with the production side is solid.
The key here is that "actively working on it" from a platform president is a different category of signal than the usual "we'd love to do more" non-committal PR response. Purini is describing an ongoing process, not a hypothetical.
For fans who want to revisit the full story while waiting, both seasons are streaming on Crunchyroll now. You'll also want to check out our gaming guides if you're into the Solo Leveling game adaptations that have been filling the gap in the meantime.
The bigger picture for anime in 2026
Solo Leveling's trajectory says something broader about where premium anime sits right now. A show based on a South Korean web novel by Chugong, produced by a Japanese studio, distributed globally through Crunchyroll, winning anime of the year and breaking streaming records. That pipeline is functioning at a high level, and season 3 is the next stress test.
For deeper coverage of what's hitting screens this year, the latest reviews section has you covered across anime and gaming alike. The Anime Expo 2026 panel from A-1 Pictures is shaping up to be one of the more closely watched events of the summer.
