MTV announced today that its first year fantasy series The Shannara Chronicles will be returning for a second season, which does not come as a huge surprise. Based on the Terry Brooks novels, that show pulled mediocre overnight ratings during its inaugural run, but saw decent gains of sometimes up to 200% in delayed viewing. While less important to the broadcast networks, the DVR gains matter more to the cable channels because they often have international financing / partnerships backing them and do no rely as heavily on ad revenue during the live broadcasts. I have theorized all season that The Shannara Chronicles must have global backers because it is certainly an expensive show to produce. And despite the low overnight ratings, I have considered it a decent prospect for a second season renewal (though I didn’t count it as guaranteed). That show has joined Teen Wolf and Scream among the genre entries that MTV offers as that cable channel continues to expand its scripted programming. The second season of The Shannara Chronicles will likely bow in early 2017.
Expect more renewal / cancellation announcements over the coming weeks as we approach the May Upfronts where the networks present their schedules for the 2016-17 season (you can see the timing of those at this link). And keep a close eye on this site and the Cancelled Sci Fi Twitter Site for updates and breaking announcements.
