The third season of MGM+’s Billy the Kid returns to the small screen on September 28 for what will be the final ride for the Kid (Tom Blyth) and his gang. When we last saw the gang, the briefly negotiated truce between Billy’s Regulators and the House faction fell apart, and a meeting with Gov. Lew Wallace (Anthony Lemke) turns out to be a trap, but his sweetheart Dulcinea Del Tobosco (Nuria Vega) helps him break free.

And just as importantly, his relationship with Jesse Evans (Daniel Webber) is still fractured, and their future is left uncertain.

Billy’s friendship with Jesse Evans was a crucial aspect to the series, as it was one of the most important bonds in the outlaw’s life. Jesse is Billy’s friend, mentor, and outlaw brother-in-arms. When Billy eventually breaks away from Jesse and sides with Tunstall, that shift feels personal. It turns the Lincoln County War into more than a political or territorial conflict — it becomes a deeply emotional story about two former friends standing on opposite sides of history.

However, as the story moves toward its inevitable end in Season 3, the two former friends are no longer the same men who first set out together. Each has been reshaped and hardened by the choices he’s made, their shared history pulling them together even as it threatens to tear them apart. Billy’s romance with Dulcinea strengthens his resolve to fight for a future worth living, while Jesse’s growing affection for Ana softens the hardened felon, giving his journey a surprising depth of humanity. Their parallel transformations set the stage for a reckoning. Between love, loyalty, and the ghosts of their past, that will define the final chapter of their story.

Both men are directly changed by these new developments, and as their story comes to a close, it will affect their story and possibly shape their choices.

“For Billy, it’s kind of the whole backbone of his arc,” Blyth told TV Insider. “He’s shaped by loss throughout the whole series. Season 1, it’s his family. Season 2, it’s his father figure and John Tunstall. And then in Season 3, it’s essentially all a revenge story, even though he’s kind of like a revolutionary figure trying to bring justice to corruption. He’s also fueled by revenge as well.”

“He’s had a lot of personal loss as well as the loss. He sees around him all this corruption; he’s been affected personally by it, and so he’s driven by that loss and that love of those people,” he continued. “But he’s also driven by his partner, his love Dulcinea Del Tobosco. He’s driven by hope, but also by wanting justice.”

Webber also sees love as a catalyst for change with Jesse, not just the love of a woman, but the love he holds for his brother Billy, despite their growing dissension over the last few seasons.

“[It] is the catalyst for the change,” said Webber. “I think it unlocks a lot of conflict, in turmoil. I’ve sort of been described as a bit of a storm that he had building in him, that we saw hints of at the end of Season 2. I think it unlocks a lot of emotion.”

David Brown/MGM+

“I think [Ana] unlocks a lot of the things that he’s just pushed down,” continued Webber. “I think what that does is it allows him to really, sort of see he’s surrounded by people.”

“So the one person he has trusted, and the deepest relationship that he’s probably ever had, is with Billy the Kid. And so this season, in many ways, and the core of what we get to do, is try and bring these two reluctant brothers back together, but there’s a lot of blood in the water,” said Webber.

“The core of this, you know, the heart of the story, in many ways, is these two brothers, these two misaligned characters who have such polar views of the world, just trying to live together. Jesse is ultimately pragmatic and cynical about the world. [Billy’s] is the believer, the idealist, the revolutionary. And so it’s a constant backwards and forwards,” he added. “I guess the cost of love is really: do you stay with the myth? Do you leave the man who’s sort of putting your life and others in jeopardy? Or do you help him and assist this question of loyalty, betrayal, and survival, ultimately?”

Check out an exclusive sneak peek above!

Billy the Kid, Season 3 Premiere, Sunday, MGM+