CBS has renewed freshman series ‘Evil’ for a second season to arrive in 2020-21. The series has enjoyed strong ratings and great reviews — with delayed streaming, ‘Evil’ averages 7.1 million viewers. The show was created by CBS mainstays Robert and Michelle King, who previously created the long-running CBS hit ‘The Good Wife’, and the current spin-off series ‘The Good Fight’ on CBS All Access.
Mike Colter stars as former journalist turned priest-in training, David Acosta, who brings in Katja Herbers‘ Dr. Kristen Bouchard, a forensic psychologist to help determine whether the events he witnesses are truly supernatural miracles and demonic possessions or man-made. They are accompanied on their investigations by technician Ben Shroff (Aasif Mandvi). Michael Emerson co-stars as occult leader Dr. Leland Townsend, who encourages others to act on their evil impulses. It was recently announced that Renée Elise Goldsberry was joining the series in the recurring role of Renee Harris, a “dynamic, hard-driving attorney,” working for the Catholic Church, who has a past history with David.
The first season will consist of 13 episodes, with the final installment airing on January 30, 2020.
‘Evil’ is the only freshman series that CBS has renewed for a full second series. It did, however, order “full seasons” for the rest of its freshmen shows, drama ‘All Rise’ and comedies ‘Carol’s Second Act’, ‘The Unicorn’, and ‘Bob ♥ Abishola’. What’s interesting is that ‘All Rise’ out-performs ‘Evil’. In fact, it is the highest-rated new show on network TV for the new fall season.
What’s kind of a fun coincidence is that ‘Evil’ stars Mike Colter, the former star of Netflix’s Marvel series ‘Luke Cage’, and his co-star on that show, Simone Missick who played Misty Knight, heads up the cast of ‘All Rise’.
Regarding the renewal and back-orders, CBS Entertainment president Kelly Kahl stated:
“These terrific new series have attracted a passionate base of viewers and consistent ratings while delivering entertaining, inclusive and relevant storytelling every week. They’re off to strong starts and are still being discovered on the many catch-up and playback options available to our viewers today. We’re proud of this freshman class and excited about their potential to tell more great stories and further expand their audiences.”
‘Evil’ airs on CBS at 10pm EST.
Source: Deadline
