Days of Our Lives fans, rejoice.
NBC is near a deal to renew the series for a 56th season, sources confirm to The Hollywood Reporter. (NBC and Sony Pictures TV as well as Corday Productions all declined comment as new deals have not officially closed.)
The renewal arrives as the cast of NBC’s longest-running entertainment show in history was recently released from their contracts amid renegotiations over budget issues with Corday and Sony. Production will not be impacted as the series is eight months ahead. Filming will wrap for the season this month and the show already had enough footage to get to summer 2020.
Corday, which carries the contracts with the cast, made the call to release the actors. Days of Our Lives was renewed for 2019-20 in January. Sony Pictures TV and NBC had been in talks for another season when Corday released the cast.
Corday also sued Sony earlier this year, claiming the studio hadn’t put forth its best efforts at distributing Days of Our Lives. The claim said Sony made a decision to “eliminate any competition to its wholly owned series The Young and the Restless. … In the annals of Hollywood television, it is difficult to identify a distributor more guilty of blatant conflict of interest, deceit, perfidy, and abuse of market power.”
Sony had several of Corday’s claims dismissed in August, although the allegation that Sony failed to adequately market Days of Our Lives and share marketing costs was allowed to move forward.
Days of Our Lives is one of four remaining daytime dramas on the broadcast networks; CBS’ The Young and the Restless and The Bold and the Beautiful and ABC’s General Hospital are the others. It is averaging about 2 million daily viewers this season, the smallest audience of the quartet.
Deadline first reported the news.
