Fortnite Chapter 5 Season 3: Start Date, Collabs, Leaks, Rumors, And Everything Else We Know

By
Phil Owen
on May 6, 2024 at 1:48PM PDT

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As Fortnite’s latest big collaboration with Star Wars kicks off, we’re entering the late stages of Chapter 5 Season 2. There are only a few weeks left before we move on to Season 3, and whatever that may bring us. But we’re not to the point yet where Epic Games is teasing the new season–there’s plenty of Star Wars content to promote right now, and the official hype train for Season 3 won’t get underway until the May The 4th party wraps up in a couple weeks.

And that means that we officially know very little about what’s in store for us next season. But that’s not the same as knowing nothing. We’ve got a couple of things we know will happen, as well as lots of rumors and potential leaks about some other things, including some major new collabs.

When does Fortnite Chapter 5 Season 3 start?Currently, Season 2 is slated to end on May 24, which is a Friday. Usually, that means that Fortnite’s season will end very early in the morning on the 24th in the US, around 4 AM ET, and then the game will go down for maintenance for several hours.

If all goes as planned, Season 3 will begin several hours later on the morning of May 24. But we’re not making any promises on that–Season 2 had a very messy launch that saw Fortnite stay offline in maintenance for nearly a day.

What we know for sure is coming in Fortnite Chapter 5 Season 3

Fortnite Chapter 5 Season 3 leaks and rumorsRecently, Epic’s alleged roadmap for the Fortnite ecosystem in 2024 emerged from the bowels of the internet, and it gained a lot of credibility in the eyes of the community when its prediction that Billie Eilish would be the next Fortnite Festival icon turned out to be correct. Since it’s a roadmap for the whole year, it’s got some big potential details about Chapter 5 Season 3.

First, the roadmap’s image for the summer season is a Mad Max-looking loading screen, and there have been separate leaks about vehicular combat–May 24 is also the day that Furiosa hits theaters, so it certainly makes sense. It also lists a Pirates of the Caribbean collab during this period, so maybe the long-rumored Jack Sparrow skin could be the bonus skin in the battle pass.

Image credit: Getty Image/Ethan MillerFortnite Festival Season 4A new season of Fortnite Festival will begin on June 13, just a few weeks into Chapter 5, Season 3. We’ve got no information or rumors about it, save what the alleged roadmap says: Metallica is Season 4’s featured artist.

Rocket Racing in Chapter 5 Season 3Rocket Racing is currently in the midst of its first season of content, Neon Rush, and it’s safe to expect major updates in the next few months as Epic continues to support its fledgling racer. The alleged leaked roadmap seems to indicate that the next Neon Rush-level update will kick off a volcano theme.

Separately, there’s a rumor that battle royale players will soon be able to customize SUVs the same way they currently can with sports cars, which should also apply to Rocket Racing, allowing some of Rocket League’s boxier car types to finally cross over.

Lego Fortnite in Chapter 5 Season 3Lego Fortnite has begun its summer season already with this Star Wars event–Fortnite’s new Star Wars-themed Lego Pass and Star Wars story content will run until late July.

Fortnite Chapter 5 Season 3 collabsAs mentioned above, the alleged 2024 roadmap lists collabs with Pirates of the Caribbean and Metallica, while also hinting that the season will be themed around post-apocalyptic car chases–which probably means Mad Max, if it’s legit.

Beyond those, Fortnite leakers and dataminers have been indicating for a while that new waves of My Hero Academia and Jujutsu Kaisen cosmetics are on the way. But it’s doubtful any of that will hit the item shop during this Star Wars takeover, so they’re prime candidates for Season 3 collabs. Jujutsu Kaisen was the subject of last summer’s mini pass event, for what it’s worth.

We’ll add more rumors, leaks, and official news here as it all comes in.