The third season of Veronica Mars, an American drama television series created by Rob Thomas, began airing on The CW in the United States on October 3, 2006.

[2] The season continues the story of Veronica Mars (Kristen Bell), now a freshman studying at Hearst College while moonlighting as a private investigator under the wing of her detective father.

The first mystery is established when her friend Parker Lee (Julie Gonzalo) becomes the latest victim of the Hearst serial rapist in a storyline begun in a second-season episode.

To increase viewership, the third season format was changed to include two separate mysteries that would be introduced and resolved in a series of non-overlapping story arcs.

Francis Capra portrays Eli "Weevil" Navarro, the previous leader of the Pacific Coast Highway (PCH) biker gang and Veronica's friend.

[4] The third season introduces two new series regulars, Julie Gonzalo portrays Parker Lee and Chris Lowell plays Stosh "Piz" Piznarski.

He is Wallace's roommate and a friend of Veronica, and his campus radio show serves as a narrative device to capture the mood of the university.

Maureen Ryan of the Chicago Tribune praised Bell's performance, who she said deserved the "truckload of glowing press notices for her work as the tightly wound, emotionally resilient young detective".

[25] Stephanie Zacharek of Salon.com felt that although the third season "wasn't the strongest", it did show that Veronica Mars "could not only survive but continue to find ways to reinvigorate itself".

[26] Melanie McFarland of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer felt that Veronica Mars "easily has a few more seasons left in it", and described the writing as "unfailingly hysterical and clever".

Goldman concluded that although third season "was very choppy", it still had "plenty of witty dialogue and a continually engaging performance by Kristen Bell as the title character".

The website's critics consensus reads, "The third season of Veronica Mars continues to highlight the show's simple brilliance, offering more of the witty banter and quote-worthy dialogue the series is known for.

Paul Maguire, the spokesman for The CW, said that the series was picked up because "the critics are behind it and our research has consistently shown that Gilmore shared more audience commonality with Veronica than with any other show from UPN, except Top Model".

[40] In addition to all of the aired episodes, DVD extras included unaired scenes with introductions by Rob Thomas, a gag reel, and a webisode gallery with cast interviews and various set tours.

In September 2008, Thomas told Entertainment Weekly that "I thought I had the idea broken, but I've hit a wall in the final act that I haven't quite figured out".