An awful lot of renewals and cancellations have been announced lately, but there have been plenty of holdouts that have made fans quite nervous about their favorite shows. Luckily, one more show has officially gotten the renewal order, and viewers can be at their ease. ABC's political action thriller Designated Survivor will return for a second season.
There aren't many sure things when it comes to television renewals, but we definitely had reason to be optimistic about Designated Survivor's future. Despite some behind-the-scenes shakeups that have resulted in four different showrunners in the course of one season, ABC struck a multi-season subscription video on demand (SVOD) deal with Netflix that gives international streaming rights. A Season 2 was likely to be lucrative for ABC given the series' international appeal.
That said, the U.S. ratings haven't exactly been what ABC was looking for out of a high-profile series starring Kiefer Sutherland. Designated Survivor got off to a strong start in September and was hitting ratings records early on (especially once DVR viewership could be tallied), but it still didn't perform has well as hoped. Nevertheless, the numbers are pretty respectable. EW reports that Designated Survivor has averaged 11.62 million viewers and a 2.7 rating in the valuable 18-49 demographic per episode. Even if it wasn't the biggest new show in the 2016-2017 TV season, it did well enough, and the cast has really gelled together as the season has progressed. I'm feeling pretty good about what the show can pull together for a second season.
Of course, knowing Designated Survivor, we'll be left with a huge cliffhanger at the end of the Season 1 finale. Few things are entirely certain in President Tom Kirkman's life, and a lot could go very wrong all at once for him and his family. At least the knowledge that a Season 2 is definitively on the way may help us to deal with the stress of any cliffhanger. Even if it doesn't get resolved in the first season finale, it's bound to be addressed in Season 2 at some point. All things considered, I'd say that Kiefer Sutherland made a good choice with his first TV leading role since leaving the 24 franchise behind. Only time will tell if Designated Survivor will prove to have the same staying power.
The Season 1 finale of Designated Survivor airs on Wednesday, May 17 at 10 p.m. ET on ABC. Stay tuned to CinemaBlend for the latest in TV news, and don't forget to check out our summer TV premiere schedule to discover all your viewing options now and in the coming weeks. Be sure to drop by our rundowns for cable/streaming and broadcast TV renewals and cancellations as well. Our TV season finale schedule can give you all you need to know about your shows ending.
