Boardwalk Empire Season 3 Trailer: Will Nucky Lose Everything?

The second season of HBO's Boardwalk Empire ended with a pretty major twist. Though he was widely considered to be the secondary protagonist of the series, Jimmy Darmody (Michael Pitt) was shot and killed by Nucky Thompson (Steve Buscemi) toward the end of "To the Lost," the show's second season finale. It was a truly shocking moment in Boardwalk Empire, but it really cemented the fact that this series is, first and foremost, the story of Nucky Thompson, and no one else.

We're rapidly approaching the show's third season premiere, which will happen in September, and you can bet that we'll be seeing fallout in Nucky's life from his coldblooded killing of Jimmy. He lied to Margaret and told her that Jimmy had re-enlisted in the army, but will that be enough of an alibi? Our guess is, no.

The trailer for the third season of Boardwalk Empire aired on HBO last night, and it's a highly-stylized reimagining of the final events of the second season. Nucky still shoots Jimmy, though Jimmy's face is shrouded in shadow. As Nucky walks up and finishes Jimmy off, he drops the gun. His wedding ring slips off his finger and falls to the ground. The rose on his lapel falls off and lands on Jimmy's body.

Then, in the trailer, time reverses, and he drops the gun instead of shooting Jimmy. He reaches down, picks it up, and then stares into the camera. What expression is that? Anger? Regret? Self-loathing? Probably a mix of all three.

But as much as Nucky probably regrets killing his former protege, it's done, and he has to live with the consequences -- and they might just ruin his life.

As the tagline at the end of the trailer tells us, "You can't be half a gangster." It looks like Jimmy's words will continue to haunt Nucky as well.

Watch the trailer here.

Boardwalk Empire's third season premieres September 16 on HBO.