Syfy put a new twist TV on time travel back in 2015 with the premiere of 12 Monkeys. The show has run for two seasons so far, and fans have had plenty of twists and turns to puzzle over between episodes. Unfortunately for those fans, Syfy has officially announced its decision to cancel 12 Monkeys. That said, there is some good news. Syfy has ordered one final season of the series before it ends for good.
The third season of 12 Monkeys will run for ten episodes and kicks off in May. Syfy has not confirmed how many episodes have been ordered for Season 4 or when it will debut. If it follows the pattern set by earlier seasons, however, we can bet that Season 4 will debut sometime in spring 2018 with 10 or 13 episodes.
Season 3 hasn't even premiered yet, so it's hard to say what prompted the decision to order one more season but cancel the entire series. The ratings were nothing to brag about throughout Season 2, and it wouldn't have been too much of a shock back then if Syfy had announced a cancellation. Now, with Season 3 set to debut, we can only guess at what prompted the bizarre order.
The Season 4 order/series cancellation isn't the only bizarre piece of news to come out of Syfy regarding 12 Monkeys. Season 3 will be released in an entirely unexpected way over the course of one weekend. The first four episodes of 12 Monkeys Season 3 will hit the airwaves on Friday, May 19, the next three will air on Saturday, May 20, and the final three will air on Sunday, May 21. Yes, Syfy is indeed releasing an entire season of episodes in the span of three days.
If Syfy hadn't ordered Season 4, I would have assumed that the network was just dumping all the episodes of Season 3 as soon as possible and trying to move on to other programming. The ratings certainly haven't been stellar over the years, and Syfy wanting to be rid of 12 Monkeys ASAP would certainly explain the entire season over three days. The Season 4 order indicates that Syfy has at least enough faith in the series to want to invest in another batch of episodes. Who knows? Maybe releasing episodes en masse will be the kind of event 12 Monkeys needs to pull in an audience moving toward the very end.
All things considered, the early renewal/cancellation might be the best thing that has ever happened to 12 Monkeys. The folks behind the scenes will be able to plan Season 4 as the very last, and so we might be spared any huge cliffhangers in the finale. The show doesn't have to worry about earning another season; it will get exactly one more, and the team will be able to tie up as many loose strings as they could possibly desire.
Tune in to Syfy on Friday, May 19 at 8 p.m. ET to catch the first four episodes of 12 Monkeys, and be sure to check out our midseason TV premiere schedule and summer TV premiere schedule to see what else you can catch on the small screen. If streaming is more your style, our 2017 Netflix premiere schedule may be the place to be.
