For the past several months, fans of Fox’s alternate-reality show ‘Fringe’ have been waiting with baited breath to see if the upcoming season finale would be the final episode. Even the show’s creators were preparing for the worst by filming two endings to the season finale so that they could either close up shop for good or leave some questions unanswered for a final season.
Now fans can breathe a sigh of relief that the tense waiting is over. Deadline announced earlier today that Fox had put out the official statement that ‘Fringe’ was indeed renewed for one more 13-episode season. This is a shocker to many since, despite its rabid following, ‘Fringe’ was sinking in the ratings this past season averaging only 4 million viewers. To throw that into perspective, the recently canceled ‘Terra Nova’ was raking in over 10 million viewers.
It seems, though, that the ratings numbers weren’t the issue so much as the money that it cost to license the series from creator J.J. Abrams’ Bad Robot productions. Fox exec Kevin Reilly said back in January that the decision as to whether or not ‘Fringe’ would survive for another season would be based on how the negotiations with Bad Robot played out. And, luckily for fans, Bad Robot allowed Fox to license the show’s final season for a discount so that the series’ story could be closed out properly.
‘Fringe’ creator Abrams had this to say about the renewal:
“We are thrilled and beyond grateful that Fox – and our fans – have made the impossible possible: Fringe will continue into a fifth season that will allow the series to conclude in a wild and thrilling way.”
Now that the announcement has been made, Fox has put out a teaser trailer for the final season. It doesn’t reveal much, but it’s enough to make all of the ‘Fringe’ fans jump with glee. Check out the trailer below and then sound off in our comments section with your thoughts on the renewal of ‘Fringe’ for the fifth and final season.
