There's a moment in the new trailer where Golshifteh Farahani's character whispers, “You are part of something so much bigger.” And for once in this genre, that line doesn't feel like empty marketing.
Apple TV+ has unveiled the official trailer for Invasion Season 3, launching August 22, 2025, and if this footage is any indication, the slow-burn alien series is finally letting loose. Gone are the hesitant, isolated perspectives from Seasons 1 and 2. Now, all the key players—from Japan to London to Oklahoma—are converging for a last-ditch mission to breach the alien mothership. It's a visual escalation the show sorely needed. And yes, those apex creatures look like insectoid nightmares pulled from a high-budget fever dream.
The imagery is pure chaos. Mothership tendrils stretch across city skylines. Human survivors run through neon-lit ruins, framed in that familiar desaturated Apple color grade. And then there are the aliens—iridescent, spindly-legged monstrosities rendered in grotesque detail. These aren't your Spielberg grays or X-Files shadows. They're somewhere between Guillermo del Toro and Starship Troopers, with enough arthropod limbs to trigger every phobia you didn't know you had.
Season 3 brings back the core cast—Farahani, Shioli Kutsuna, Shamier Anderson, India Brown, Shane Zaza, Enver Gjokaj—and introduces Erika Alexander as a new series regular. More importantly, it unifies them. This time, the global ensemble isn't just reacting—they're acting. They're a team, built through trauma, and now aimed directly at the source of their shared nightmare.
Created by Simon Kinberg (X-Men: Dark Phoenix, The 355) and David Weil (Hunters), Invasion was always pitched as a human-first alien story. The issue? That human story often meandered. Early seasons were guilty of holding back, banking on mood over momentum. But from the looks of this trailer, the gloves are off. Tendrils are rising, stakes are planetary, and the mood has finally caught up to the urgency.
Directing duties this season are split among Daisy von Scherler Mayer, Sylvain White, and Alik Sakharov—all of whom bring pedigree from prestige TV. And that's evident in the cinematography: haunting wides, brutal close-ups, and one slow pan over a charred battlefield that might be the show's best shot yet. Credit to Sakharov, if he's the one behind it.
This trailer also signals a tonal shift. Gone is the pure dread. In its place? Defiance. The voiceovers talk of unity, of last chances, of fighting back. It's the kind of third-act energy most series burn out before reaching. Invasion may have taken its time, but it looks ready to detonate.
To be clear—this is still a slow sci-fi series. If you're coming in fresh hoping for Independence Day fireworks, temper those expectations. But for those who've stuck with it, the payoff might finally be here. Characters once separated by oceans and trauma are now in the same room, planning something massive. The trailer doesn't say much—but it shows enough. And that's a welcome change.
Apple TV+ premieres Invasion Season 3 on August 22, 2025, with new episodes rolling out weekly. If the past seasons built the chessboard, this one's finally playing the endgame.
We'll be watching closely. And this time, so will they.
