'Kusuriya no Hitorigoto' 3rd Season Airs in Split Cours, Gets Original Movie in December 2026

I'm happy about the news about the film, but why do they need a split cour? Doesn't the current hype and critical acclaim give them relatively unlimited opportunities for further work on anime?

@RobertBobert the weird thing is they're releasing the movie between the two cours which probably has something to do with the decision.
As you know, split cours are usually a product of production timelines and not marketing, but considering their production has been solid so far i doubt that's the reason. Maybe the movie fits into the story right between the cours in the timeline.

@Tendo_GM Is it possible that they decided that one of the "inner" arcs was perfect for a full-screen adaptation?

@RobertBobert No, this is not possible. The movie was announced as a "完全新作ストーリー" ("completely new story") written by the original author.

Just because it is anime original content, it doesn't mean that it won't potentially include references to or even be dependent on aspects from the plot and character development which already happened prior in the anime series and wouldn't make logical canonical sense if placed before it on the timeline. Like, obviously if there is reference to something which happened in episode 48 (the season two finale) then it would be irrational to claim it takes place after episode two of season one or something extreme like that.

Unless by "original story" you meant placed anywhere in the light novel if adapted to that format or considered canon anyway by its readers, but the LN is way ahead of the anime series from my understanding and it doesn't seem like they'd place it much further in the future than the end of the first half of the upcoming season three slated to air immediately preceding it, or why would they skip ahead of all that to-be-adapted-to-anime content or have the second half of season three go backwards?

Just elaborating on that idea - The point is, if it comes out after the first half of a split cour season three which starts airing in autumn of 2026, then it's probably safe to assume it will take place chronologically after the events of that part of the series which just aired on television, likely to link the first and second cours/halves of the season. That's obviously not guaranteed, but because the series is popular and well-known and the film would be airing in theatres, it seems unlikely they'll squander the momentum and opportunity to "build hype" by having it slotted in just anywhere along the timeline, like having it be a random prequel or midquel set before or during the earlier seasons.