Covert Affairs is coming back for a fifth season.
USA Network has greenlighted 16 more episodes of the one-hour espionage drama, The Hollywood Reporter has learned.
“No other series on television travels the globe to tell a story like Covert Affairs, and we are pleased to bring it back for another season,” said Chris McCumber, president of USA Network. “With its intricate storytelling, diverse characters and authentic locations, the series continues to be a cornerstone in our lineup of USA’s original signature dramas.”
The renewal comes mere weeks before Covert Affairs returns for the second half of its fourth season, which wrapped its summer run in mid-September. It was one of summer’s top 10 cable scripted shows, with nearly 4 million viewers.
When Covert Affairs returns for the remaining six episodes, co-creators Matt Corman and Chris Ord promise a “totally different show” following CIA agent Annie Walker’s (Piper Perabo) decision to fake her own death and go deep undercover in her continued mission to topple Henry Wilcox (Gregory Itzin).
“This change that we see in Annie at the end [of the finale] is a seismic one and a major one,” Corman told THR in September. “It’s going to launch us into a back six where we see a totally different Annie and a totally different show, and we hope people enjoy it.”
“Every episode and every script we’ve been doing is exciting because we get to see a whole new side to Annie and how she operates, and the choices she’s forced to make are a whole new chapter. She’s never been faced with many of these challenges and she doesn’t have the support system to help her. It’s very interesting how she copes with this new paradigm,” Ord told THR.
Christopher Gorham, Peter Gallagher, Kari Matchett and Hill Harper also star in the Universal Cable Productions series from Corman and Ord, who are executive producers along with Doug Liman, David Bartis, Gene Klein and Stephen Kay.
Gorham will direct the fourth episode of the remaining half of the season. International locations featured this season include Medellin, Rome, Vienna, Copenhagen, Hong Kong, Grand Bahama Island and Geneva.
Covert Affairs‘ renewal comes as USA preps its big original comedy push following the syndication debut of Modern Family, and the return of veteran drama White Collar later this month. Suits is set to return for the back half of season three in early 2014, with Royal Pains already renewed for season six, long-running comedy Psych returning for season eight and rookie Graceland picked up for a sophomore run. The fate of Necessary Roughness has not yet been determined.
E-mail: Philiana.Ng@THR.com
Twitter: @insidethetube
