Agents of SHIELD Renewed For Season 4, Agent Carter Waits
By Nick Tylwalk
There will be an Agents of SHIELD Season 4.
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Despite ratings that rightfully could be considered lukewarm, with around 3.92 million people tuning in live this week, ABC is happy enough with Agents of SHIELD that it has renewed the series for another season. IGN says it was one of 15 series to earn early renewals from the network, a group that also includes Once Upon a Time and everything associated with Shonda Rhimes.
Two things stand out as factors that might have helped Agents of SHIELD in its quest for renewal. One is that it’s audience almost doubles when time-delayed viewing is included, though it’s not clear exactly how much networks take that into account. The other is that while the raw numbers are fantastic, the show appears to have leveled off and found its niche, as the average live audience for Season 3 is actually up just a tick from Season 2.
It remains to be seen if that remains true after the series’ extended winter hiatus. Last season, the show dropped some viewers following a similar break, and the season finale ended up the second-lowest rated episode of Season 2. It’s not exactly building off strength either, as Agent Cater just turned in its lowest number ever last week.
Speaking of Agent Carter, its fate remains in the same kind of dark, murky limbo that gave us Zero Matter. It joins ABC series like Castle, Nashville, The Muppets and (criminally, in this writer’s opinion) Galavant in waiting to see if it receives a stay of execution. The writers on that series left viewers with a bit of a cliffhanger, which would make a return welcome even if it probably wouldn’t thrill ABC in the ratings.
Next: Agents of SHIELD: Ward is Now This Marvel Villain
Agents of SHIELD may get even more company from the Marvel Cinematic Universe next fall. Marvel’s Most Wanted, a spinoff starring Bobbi “Mockingbird” Morse and Lance Hunter, has been given a pilot order, though not a series order at this point in time.