This is a rare occurrence in the current strike-impacted broadcast season — a scripted series getting an order for additional episodes. According to sources, the CW’s flagship drama All American is having its current sixth season extended from 13 episode to 15.
The original star of The CW drama was written out during the show’s Feb. 13 episode.
All American has gotten an early renewal for Season 6 at The CW. “Over the last five seasons, All American has established itself as one of the all-time CW flagship franchises,” said Brad Schwartz, president of entertainment at The CW. “All American is not only the network’s youngest series, but also the strongest performer when combining all our platforms.”
The CW has handed early renewals to a large portion of its scripted schedule: All American, The Flash, Kung Fu, Nancy Drew, Riverdale, Superman & Lois and Walker. Traditionally, the youth-skewing network hands out early renewals, sometimes as early as January, to the majority of its slate — a boon for its owners CBS and Warner Bros. However, this year, the broadcaster’s future is up in the air with local affiliate group Nexstar circling and Deadline understands that a new majority owner will likely have a say in some of its renewal decisions.
The season 3 debut of The CW’s All American on Netflix was the most watched program on the major U.S. SVOD services for the week of July 26-Aug. 1, attracting 1.433 billion viewing minutes during, according to Nielsen.
The network is developing a spinoff of the series — whose third season premiere recorded its biggest audience ever — called All American: Homecoming. It’s set to air as a planted episode later in the season and will focus on Geffri Maya’s recurring character, Simone Hicks, and another athlete as they make their way to a prestigious historically Black college.
Exclusives
The show will go dark on Monday after a member of the production came down with the novel coronavirus.
The younger-skewing broadcast network will, for the first time in years, not have a single canceled show this season as all five of its freshman dramas are returning: All American, In the Dark, Roswell, Charmed and Legacies.
Charmed has received a back nine order, bringing its first season to 22 episodes total. Fellow freshman shows All American and Legacies have gotten picked up for three more episodes, meaning the first season of both shows will run for 16 episodes.
