Syfy announced today that its hit supernatural series Haven has been picked up for a double-sized fifth season – twenty six episodes! This can be attributed to the show’s continued growth (averaging 2.3 million viewers on Friday nights – and running against new shows from all the big networks!) and the show’s fans being extremely media savvy (Season 4 was Haven’s best season to date in social mentions and Twitter activity). Season 5.0 will premiere this fall, with Season 5.5 debuting in 2015.
Over the course of Haven’s run on Syfy, series creators Sam Ernst and Jim Dunn have repeatedly said in interviews that they had a complete story planned for Haven – a ‘seven-season plan.’ With today’s news that Season 5 of Haven will be 26 episodes, I have to wonder if Ernst & Dunn’s plan was based on 13-episode seasons – making Season 5, in effect, years five and six of their overall plan. Or, maybe, because the series has proven so durable and so good, if perhaps Syfy might be trying to stretch things out a bit. Ernst and Dunn are not listed as executive producers on the show in the press release (read it after the jump), so that gives me pause…
SYFY DOUBLES UP ON FAN-FAVORITE SERIES HAVEN ORDERING 26 NEW EPISODES
FIRST 13 EPISODES TO PREMIERE THIS FALL
NEW YORK – January 28, 2014 – Syfy has greenlit 26 new episodes of its hit series Haven, which posted growth in both Adults 18-34 and Adults 18-49 last year. The first 13 episodes of Season 5 are set to premiere this fall with the remaining 13 episodes scheduled to air in 2015.
Tallying its best season ever in social mentions and Twitter activity, Haven’s recently wrapped fourth season was up 11% among Adults 18-34 (314,000) and up 3% year-to-year among Adults 18-49 (926,000). Overall, Haven averaged 1.1 million Adults 25-54 and 2.3 million viewers per week and ranked second in Adults 18-49 and Adults 25-54 among original cable series in its Friday 10PM ET/PT time slot. (All data Live +7).
Series stars Emily Rose, Lucas Bryant and Eric Balfour will reprise their roles of Audrey Parker, Nathan Wournos and Duke Crocker, respectively. Production on 26 all-new episodes is set to begin on location in Halifax, Nova Scotia this spring.
Haven, based on the novella, The Colorado Kid, from renowned author Stephen King, follows former FBI agent Audrey Parker, who becomes a cop in the small town of Haven, Maine, and soon discovers the town’s many secrets – which also hold the key to unlocking the mysteries of her lost past.
From leading independent studio Entertainment One (eOne), Haven is co-commissioned by Shaw Media in Canada and globally via Universal Networks International (UNI).
The creative team behind Haven includes executive producers John Morayniss (Klondike, Rogue) from eOne Television and David MacLeod (Legends of the Fall, The Ray Bradbury Theater) of Big Motion Pictures, who are joined by Lloyd Segan, Shawn Piller, Scott Shepherd (Stephen King’s The Dead Zone, Greek) of Piller/Segan/Shepherd and Matt McGuinness (Journeyman, Franklin and Bash) and Gabrielle Stanton (The Vampire Diaries, Grey’s Anatomy). The series was developed by Sam Ernst and Jim Dunn (Stephen King’s The Dead Zone).
Haven is produced by Entertainment One and Big Motion Pictures in association with Piller/Segan/Shepherd and airs on Syfy in the US, Showcase in Canada and internationally on UNI’s multiple Syfy channels. Entertainment One controls the worldwide distribution rights to the one-hour series.
About Entertainment One
The company’s comprehensive network extends around the globe including Canada, the US, the UK, Ireland, Spain, Australia, New Zealand, Benelux, France, Germany, Scandinavia, South Africa and South Korea. Through established Entertainment and Distribution divisions, the company provides extensive expertise in film distribution, television and music production, family programming and merchandising and licensing. Its current rights library is exploited across all media formats and includes more than 35,000 film and television titles, 2,800 hours of television programming and 45,000 music tracks. http://www.entertainmentonegroup.com/
About Universal Networks International
Universal Networks International, the international channels division of NBCUniversal, is one of the world’s premier entertainment portfolios, delivering quality content and compelling brands to over 176 territories across Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Latin America and Asia Pacific. The brands in the portfolio include Universal Channel, Syfy, 13th Street, Studio Universal, E! Entertainment Television, The Style Network, DIVA Universal, Telemundo and Golf Channel. These unique brands deliver a full range of entertainment experiences to local audiences across the globe.
Universal Networks International also operates Movies 24. Further, NBCUniversal News Group, one of the most influential and respected portfolios of on-air and digital news properties in the world, operate CNBC and NBC News internationally.
About Shaw Communications Inc.
Shaw is a diversified communications and media company, providing consumers with broadband cable television, High-Speed Internet, Home Phone, telecommunications services (through Shaw Business), satellite direct-to-home services (through Shaw Direct) and engaging programming content (through Shaw Media). Shaw serves 3.3 million customers, through a reliable and extensive fibre network. Shaw Media operates one of the largest conventional television networks in Canada, Global Television, and 19 specialty networks including HGTV Canada, Food Network Canada, HISTORY® and Showcase. Shaw is traded on the Toronto and New York stock exchanges and is included in the S&P/TSX 60 Index (Symbol: TSX – SJR.B, NYSE – SJR). For more information about Shaw, please visit www.shaw.ca.
About Syfy
Syfy is a media destination for imagination-based entertainment. With year round acclaimed original series, events, blockbuster movies, classic science fiction and fantasy programming, a dynamic Web site (www.Syfy.com), and a portfolio of adjacent business (Syfy Ventures), Syfy is a passport to limitless possibilities. Originally launched in 1992 as SCI FI Channel, and currently in more than 98 million homes, Syfy is a network of NBCUniversal, one of the world’s leading media and entertainment companies. NBCUniversal is owned by Comcast Corporation. (Syfy. Imagine greater.)
Photo by Michael Tompkins/Courtesy of Syfy