ORPHAN BLACK Renewed For Season 5, Which Will Be Its Final Season
On the eve of Orphan Black's season 4 finale, BBC America has some bittersweet news: the network has renewed the show for a fifth and final season. The clone-centric genre drama has become a cult hit over the years, and it will finish up its run with one last ten episode season next year.
Quick plug: Over at our podcast network PodTyrant, we have an Orphan Black recap podcast (called, appropriately, Clone Club) that you can/should listen to. There will be a new episode on the site tomorrow morning recapping tonight's episode.
BBC America President Sarah Barnett said:
“Orphan Black is a thrilling, genre-bending ride that has captured our fans’ imaginations and hearts like no other show. Our genius team of actors, writers and producers have, time after time, taken us to a place of awe, delight and utter shock and surprise. Tatiana has been and continues to be a complete revelation, hers is one of the most remarkable performances on television, and she is joined by an extraordinary cast. We can’t wait to take our incredibly passionate audience on one final gobsmacking clone adventure.”
Co-creators John Fawcett and Graeme Manson released their own statement:
“We are excited to deliver an epic conclusion to the tale of Sarah and her clone sisters. The past four seasons have been a phenomenal adventure and we are eternally grateful to our loyal fans who have loved the twists and thrills of our weird little show. We are thankful to our partners at Temple Street, and to BBC America and Space for their support and giving us the opportunity to end on a high.”
It's tough to tell if the creators are trying to save face with that statement or if it's actually their desire to wrap up the show after one more season, but either way, this is a far better outcome than it could have been. A lot of shows don't have the luxury of knowing they have an end point in sight, so the writing suffers as the narrative loses steam and the show is eventually cancelled without any sense of closure for the fans. That definitely won't be the case here, so even though I'm sure some fans would have liked to see the show go on for a few more years, this is something to be thankful for.