Solo Leveling season 3 release date speculation, story, and everything else we know so far

Solo Leveling season 3 is one of the strangest situations we've seen in some time. One of the best anime around has just come off a red-hot second season that saw it break all kinds of records on Crunchyroll but, surprisingly, no announcement for a new season is forthcoming.

So, what's happened with Solo Leveling season 3 – and why hasn't it been greenlit yet? Over the past few weeks, there have been more than a few whispers and murmurs regarding its production and, below, we'll dig into all of them to break down when a new anime season is likely.

On top of that, we'll speculate on what could come next for Sung Jinwoo in terms of the Solo Leveling season 3 story, using both its second season and manhwa as a guide.

For more on some of anime's biggest names, be sure to check our guides to Jujutsu Kaisen season 3 and Demon Slayer Infinity Castle.

Solo Leveling season 3 release date speculation

Sorry, folks. Solo Leveling season 3 won't be releasing any time soon. Not only has there been no official announcement, but one of the producers behind the anime series hasn't exactly been bullish about its short-term future.

"Between [the first two seasons] 220,000 frames of animation were created. And of course, I’d love to give the animators a little breathing room," Aniplex producer Sota Furuhashi said during an Emmys FYC event for Solo Leveling (H/T AnimeCorner).

"So, if it were up to me, I’d say let’s wait until the next Olympics [in 2028] to see what’s going to happen with a season 3."

Given the show's intense popularity, we can't imagine we'll have to wait until 2028 for Solo Leveling season 3 to arrive. However, the producers have also said a typical episode takes between 10-12 months to complete, which suggests even a late 2026 window might be out of the question.

In our experience, anime shows normally get announced when they're at least partway into production. From there, it takes around 12-18 months to hit our screens.

With that in mind, we'd earmark fall 2026 at the absolute earliest for Solo Leveling season 3, though a 2027 release window seems far more realistic at this early stage.

Solo Leveling season 3 story: which manga chapters could it adapt next?

The end of Solo Leveling season 2 saw Jinwoo finally step in and help the Jeju Island operation, but that's not before several S-Rank hunters are bumped off, first by the Ant Queen and then the Ant King.

Ultimately, Jinwoo saves the day by defeating the Ant King. He is also able to save a mortally wounded Hae-in thanks to the assistance of the healer Byung-gu, who had previously died.

Jinwoo then clears out the remnants of the ant army, even raising the Ant King and re-christening him 'Beru' to fight by his side.

Away from the island, Jinwoo considers starting up a new guide and Hae-in is all set to begin training alongside him. One final reveal, though, sees two mysterious creatures soundly taking down a team on Jeju Island, with Jinwoo's father observing them from afar.

So, where is it all leading to? Solo Leveling season 3 should dive into the backstory of those two entities, while also covering Jinwoo's next step as part of the Ahjin Guild arc (chapters 111-122) and the culmination of the Recruitment arc.

From there, we anticipate Solo Leveling season 3 covering up to the Double Dungeon, Japan Crisis and International Guild Conference arcs, taking the adaptation up to around chapter 148 or chapter 149 of the webtoon. We won't go too much into spoiler territory here for those who haven't read ahead, but expect to see Jinwoo discover more about his powers, plus making a return to the Double Dungeon. There's also far more plot exposition surrounding future series Big Bads known as the Monarchs.

Solo Leveling season 3 cast: who could return?

Of course, the main man Sung Jinwoo will return, again voiced by Taito Ban in the Japanese dub and Aleks Le in the English version. Elsewhere, expect the likes of Hae-in (Reina Ueda/Michelle Rojas), Jin-ah (Haruna Mikawa/Rebecca Wang), and Sung Il-Hwan (Rikiya Koyama/Robert McCullum) to appear in the next season.

When can we expect a Solo Leveling season 3 trailer?

Unfortunately, we shouldn't expect one for some time. Typically, anime productions will release a short 10-to-15-second teaser once production officially starts up, alongside some key art or an official image.

From there, it can be anywhere between six months and a year until we see an extended teaser or trailer. Our best guess? 2026 at the absolute earliest.

Will there be another Solo Leveling movie?

Given the success of ReAwakening, which both recapped the first season and provided an extended tease of the second season, we wouldn't be shocked to see Solo Leveling do the same thing again and release a compilation movie running through the Arise from the Shadow second season and teasing the third season.

ReAwakening, after all, made several million at the box office. With Solo Leveling only growing in popularity, it feels like an easy win for its producers and animation studio.

Where can I watch Solo Leveling?

Right now, the first two seasons of Solo Leveling are only available on Crunchyroll. We don't anticipate it hitting Netflix, Prime Video, or any other anime streaming service in the near future – so you'll need to pay for a Crunchyroll membership to watch all 25 episodes to date.

For more, check out our picks for the best anime on Crunchyroll you should be watching right now. Then discover all the latest news on Frieren: Beyond Journey's End season 2.