Prodigal Son is returning to Fox.
The network has renewed the serial killer drama for a second season, closing the books on its scripted offerings from 2019-20. Its pickup follows renewals for The Resident and Last Man Standing earlier in the week, while the first-year comedy Outmatched was canceled.
“From the moment Prodigal Son premiered, fans have been captivated by the astounding performances turned in by Tom Payne and Michael Sheen as they go head-to-head in one of most unique family relationships on television,” Fox Entertainment president Michael Thorn said Thursday in a statement. “Adding to these searing dynamics are the equally compelling portrayals from Bellamy Young, Lou Diamond Phillips, Halston Sage and the entire cast in a brilliant premiere season as told by Chris Fedak and Sam Sklaver. We’d like to thank our friends Greg Berlanti and Sarah Schechter and everyone at Warner Bros. Television for helping make a series that left everyone wanting more, and we’re thrilled to have Prodigal Son return for our 2020-21 slate.”
A second season for Prodigal Son hung on Sheen’s availability. With that ironed out, the show will move forward toward a likely 2021 premiere date.
Fox is holding all of its live-action scripted shows for the second part of the 2020-21 season in the event that the coronavirus pandemic prevents normal production from resuming in time for the traditional fall launch. Instead, the network’s fall schedule includes current-season holdovers Next and Filthy Rich (which initially had been slated for spring or summer debuts) and the Spectrum Originals import L.A.'s Finest, along with the Sunday animated shows (whose production has been able to continue remotely).
An already completed season of MasterChef Junior, the docuseries Cosmos: Possible Worlds, WWE Smackdown and the NFL and college football (assuming their seasons are able to proceed as planned) will round out the fall schedule. The only entertainment series that would require new production for fall is The Masked Singer.
Prodigal Son was a solid performer in its first season, averaging a 1.4 rating among adults 18-49 and 5.83 million viewers with a week of delayed viewing. It ranks third among Fox's first-year shows in both measures. It has a multiplatform audience of 8.9 million viewers, per Fox.
The series, a co-production of Warner Bros. TV and Fox Entertainment, also stars Aurora Perrineau, Frank Harts and Keiko Agena. Fedak and Sklaver created Prodigal Son and executive produce with Berlanti Productions’ Berlanti and Schechter and Adam Kane.
