Cancellation Watch: Fear the Walking Dead Gets Renewed for a Fourth Season, Plus a Look at The EW’s Death Watch Predictions

Renewal Announcement: AMC announced yesterday that TWD spin-off series Fear the Walking Dead will continue through a fourth season. That show has its third season debut set for June 4th, and the network decided to go ahead and confirm its fourth in advance. It did experience notable ratings drops during its second year and I expect those to continue this Summer considering considering the slipping audience of the parent series and the fact that FTWD has never been as popular as that one. So I wouldn’t be surprised if at some point AMC announces that show’s fourth season or possibly a fifth as its last. Fear the Walking Dead will be bringing in new showrunners during its fourth season, though, so perhaps they will try to revitalize it and build back the audience if the expected attrition continues this Summer.

Renewal Rumors: As we head toward next month’s Upfronts when the broadcast networks announce their schedules for the 2017-18 season, expect many renewal and cancellation rumors to emerge. Entertainment Weekly has posted its yearly Death Watch predictions which are derived from a combination of speculations and insider info, and they believe Gotham, Once Upon A Time, Agents of SHIELD, and iZombie will all be coming back for another season while they are not as high on the prospects for The Originals.

Gotham I definitely believe because that gets the show to the 88 episode threshold that the syndication market prefers and Lucifer—which has been at about the same ratings levels–has already been renewed. I’m guessing Gotham is just a matter of some contract negotiations before we hear confirmation on it.

Once Upon A Time is a crapshoot because it is at all-time ratings lows and no longer leads Sunday nights for the broadcast networks. Word is that one will wrap up most of its storylines at the end of its current season, but that the creative staff has plans for a reboot of sorts for its seventh year. It could definitely come down to the wire for this show and I still consider it very much On the Bubble.

As for Agents of SHIELD, that show is at four year ratings lows and is currently one of the ABC’s lower rated series. But I am aware that Disney could step in again and save it  as they have done the past couple of years, and EW suggests that they will give the show a fifth and final season. I previously suggested that possibility and will move its status from Cancellation Likely to On the Bubble for now assuming that EW has some inside scoop on this one.

iZombie has been performing on the lower side for The CW since returning for its third season, but it has been that way for the show pretty much since it began. Since it is a relatively inexpensive series and has a loyal fanbase that is active on the social networks, I like it chances for a fourth season renewal at this point.

The Originals is down from last year, but then what show isn’t these days? I do think that one is nearing its end, but The CW rarely outright cancels a show that has been airing for three years or more (The Originals is currently in its fourth season). I believe it comes back for a fifth and final season. You can see all of the EW’s predictions at this link.

Charts: Not much chart activity this week as The Walking Dead has wrapped up its season and Into the Badlands has slipped out without its powerhouse lead-in.  MacGyver did improve slightly to Number 21 (up from Number 24) in the broadcast net charts based on total viewers.

Chart Activity for the Week of April 3rd:

Be sure keep an eye out for the latest numbers and any breaking news throughout the week at the  Cancelled Sci Fi Twitter Site and Facebook Page. You can see the status of all the currently airing sci fi / fantasy shows at the Cancellation Watch page. And for more information on where I get these numbers and how I make my Cancellation Alert assessments, check out the Cancelled Sci Fi FAQ.