TV News Wrap-Up: ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ Renewed for Season 5, Disney+ Announces Multiple Star Wars Series, ‘One Day at a Time’ Officially Over

It feels like 2020 is barrelling to an end, but as the year closes out networks and streaming services are looking to the future. 

There are a few surprises still to come in 2020, but the focus seems to be on 2021 and in some cases even 2022 with several series receiving preemptive renewals and even more adding to their cast.

Check out the highlights in our latest TV news wrap-up. 

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Apple has renewed For All Mankind for Season 3 ahead of the Season 2 premiere.

• The renewal comes two months before the second season premieres on Apple TV+ on February 19th.
• The drama from Ronald D. Moore and Sony Pictures Television tells an alternate history of the space race and examines what may have happened if. the global space race had never ended.
• According to Deadline, the second season just wrapped production after being halted by the coronavirus pandemic. It was among the first shows to resume production in August and shoot the final two episodes of the 10-episode second season.
• Season 2 will pick up in 1983, “It’s the height of the Cold War, and tensions between the United States and the USSR are at their peak. Ronald Reagan is president, and the greater ambitions of science and space exploration are at threat of being squandered as the Americans and Soviets go head-to-head to control sites rich in resources on the moon. The Department of Defense has moved into Mission Control, and the militarization of NASA becomes central to several characters’ stories: Some fight it, some use it as an opportunity to advance their own interests, and some find themselves at the height of a conflict that may lead to nuclear war.”

Big Sky has received a six-episode back order for its first season.

• Deadline reports this is ABC’s first back order pickup of 2020 and brings Big Sky’s total episode order to 16.
• The crime thriller has been performing well since its November 17th launch with the show securing 10.8 million viewers and a 2.5 rating among young adults 18-49 after seven days of viewing across linear and digital platforms. Making it the highest-rated debut since The Rookie premiered in October 2018.
• The second episode also held 100% of its L+3 debut rating among the same demo and increased its numbers in total viewing. 

Hulu has renewed The Handmaid’s Tale for Season 5.

• Hulu’s award-winning hit drama series, The Handmaid’s Tale, has been renewed for a fifth season ahead of its season four premiere.
• In the upcoming fourth season, which will air in 2021, June (Elisabeth Moss) strikes back against Gilead as a fierce rebel leader, but the risks she takes bring unexpected and dangerous new challenges. Her quest for justice and revenge threatens to consume her and destroy her most cherished relationships. 
• The series stars Elisabeth Moss, Joseph Fiennes, Yvonne Strahovski, Samira Wiley, Alexis Bledel, Ann Dowd, Max Minghella, Madeline Brewer, O-T Fagbenle, Amanda Brugel, Bradley Whitford, and Sam Jaeger.
• Watch the cast announce the renewal in the video below. 

Viewers can look forward to four more seasons of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia! 

• The four-season renewal was announced Friday and sets up the series to set a new record as the longest-running live-action comedy series, bypassing The Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet. 
• Since its debut in 2005, the show has racked up more than 1.5 billion hours viewed.
• It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia follows the misguided dreams and blundered schemes of everyone’s favorite bar owners – The Gang at Paddy’s Pub – Mac (Rob McElhenney), Dennis (Glenn Howerton), Charlie (Charlie Day), Dee (Kaitlin Olson) and Frank (Danny DeVito). 
• McElhenney said that when she show was pitched they originally saw a 36 season arc. “We are so excited to be halfway there,” McElhenney said in a press release.

Succession has upped three cast members to series regulars for Season 3.

• A Deadline exclusive reports that Justine Lupe, David Rasche, and Fisher Stevens, who recurred on the HBO drama have been upped to regulars on the third season. 
• Lupe portrays Willa Ferreyra. She has been a recurring character since Season 1 and has appeared in 13 episodes.
• Rasche plays Karl Muller who has also been recurring since Season 1 and appeared in 12 episodes.
• Stevens plays Hugo Baker who appeared in five episodes since he appeared on Season 2

Chilling Adventures of Sabrina announces the return of the original aunties. 

• The series posted a video on Friday that showed Beth Broderick and Caroline Rhea talking to Kiernan Shipka’s Sabrina. 
• The news followed that Beth Broderick and Caroline Rhea, who played Aunt Zelda and Aunt Hilda in the 90s sitcom would guest star in an alternate reality episode of the series opposite Miranda Otto and Lucy Davis. 
• The final season of the Netflix reboot airs on December 31st and will feature the coven fighting The Eldritch Terrors as they descend upon Greendale. 

Paramount+ orders an iCarly reboot with the original cast.

• According to Deadline, the series will air on Paramount+, Viacom CBS’s upcoming rebrand of CBS All Access.
• It will be produced by Nickelodeon Studios for the platform and feature the return of original stars Miranda Cosgrove, Jerry Trainor, and Nathan Kress.
• Producers Jay Kogen (Nickelodeon’s School of Rock, The Simpsons, Frasier) and Ali Schouten (Diary of a Future President, Champions, Merry Happy Whatever) have signed on to develop the series. They also will executive produce and serve as co-showrunners.
• The original series ran from 2007 to 2012 and followed three friends who started a webcast series while grappling with everyday problems and adventures. The show became a pop-culture staple breaking viewership records across audiences of all ages

Efforts to find a new home for One Day at a Time have come to an end.

•  Gloria Calderon Kellett broke the news to fans on Twitter this week saying, “It’s officially over. There will be no new  @OneDayAtATime episodes. But there will always be 46 episodes that we got to make that live FOREVER. Thank you to this beautiful cast. Our dedicated crew. And to you, our loyal fans. We loved making this for you. Thank you for watching.”
• In a separate tweet, Mike Royce added, “The only silver lining about not doing a show anymore is that nobody can take away the show you already did. 4 seasons that will forever exist for people to watch.”
• According to Deadline, Sony TV reportedly exhausted every avenue for keeping the series alive, but time is running out since the studio’s options on the cast expire at the end of this month.  

The Gilded Age adds 7 recurring cast members. 

• According to Deadline, the latest Julian Fellows period drama has added seven cast members including: Patrick Page (Hadestown), Douglas Sills (The Scarlet Pimpernel), Amy Forsyth (Beautiful Boy), Taylor Richardson (All Together Now), Kelley Curran (The Blacklist), and Ben Ahlers (When the Street Lights Go On). 
• Bill Irwin (Rachel Getting Married) is set as a special guest star.
• They join series regulars Christine Baranski, Carrie Coon, Cynthia Nixon, Morgan Spector, Denée Benton, Louisa Jacobson, Taissa Farmiga, Blake Ritson, Simon Jones, Harry Richardson, Thomas Cocquerel and Jack Gilpin.
• As well as the previously announced recurring cast including Kelli O’Hara, Donna Murphy, Michael Cerveris, Debra Monk, Katie Finneran, Celia Keenan-Bolger, Kristine Nielsen, and John Douglas Thompson, and special guest stars Audra McDonald and Jeanne Triplehorn.

NBC has renewed Transplant for a second season. 

• Deadline reports the first season of Transplant has averaged a 0.7 rating in adults 18-49 and 5.7 million viewers overall in Live+7, with the premiere having grown to a 1.8 in 18-49 with digital and linear viewing.
• NBC acquired this Canadian production in May and debuted it in September. 
• In its first season on CTV, Transplant was the most-watched Canadian original series with viewership growing from week to week.

Disney announces multiple Star Wars series during its investor day. 

• Deadline reports that Disney has confirmed the Rogue One prequel Andor will debut in 2022 starring Diego Luna. The production has begun filming in the UK with Fiona Shaw as a guest star.
• Additional Star Wars news including the confirmation of The Mandalorian Season 3 premiere date, which Disney expects to drop around Christmas 2021.
• Hayden Christensen is also set to reprise his role as Darth Vader in a limited series entitled Obi-Wan Kenobi.  
• Disney also announced two spinoffs to The Mandalorian universe entitled Ahsoka Tano and Rangers of the New Republic. 
• Other additions to the Star Wars universe on Disney+ include Droi Story, Bad Batch, and Star Wars: Visions. 

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What is your favorite bit of TV news from this week? Let us know in the comments below. 

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