While season 6, shortened to 13 episodes, has just ended in the United States, is “The Resident” in danger of being canceled by the Fox channel? We detail the various points that worry and could mean the end of the series.
While the final episode of New Amsterdam was broadcast last night in the United States, is another medical series about to breathe its last?
This Tuesday, January 17, the American channel Fox broadcast the last episode of season 6 of The Resident, entitled “All Hands on Deck”. And while the future of the series worn by Matt Czuchry remains unresolved, some signs are not reassuring and may suggest that The Resident will not experience season 7.
Less episodes for season 6 of The Resident
Already, this sixth batch of the adventures of Conrad Hawkins within the Chastain hospital of Atlanta counts only 13 small episodes, against 23 last year. This is the lowest number of episodes ordered by the Fox channel since the launch of the medical series in 2018.
Indeed, seasons 2 and 5 each have 23 episodes, while season 3, shortened due to the Covid, totals 20 chapters. And if seasons 1 and 4 had “only” 14 episodes, it’s because the first burst of episodes was launched mid-season on Fox and because season 4 was shot in 2020-2021, in full during the early days of the coronavirus pandemic, and had its launch delayed to January.
Questioned by fans on Twitter last November, the showrunner of The Resident Amy Holden Jones had confirmed this order of only 13 episodes for season 6, assuring that it was “the new normal for many series”.
Information certainly true, but which mainly concerns new series (The Winchesters and Walker Independence only produced 13 episodes each this season on the CW) and less established successes like Grey’s Anatomy, All American, Chicago Fire, or New York SVU, all of which should end their current season with between 20 and 24 episodes on the clock.
If we add to this the fact that the last episode of season 6, which aired yesterday in the United States, does not end on a cliffhanger and offers many semblances of a happy ending to the various characters, we can logically assume that the Fox channel asked the production and the writers to make this episode a potential “final series”, in case of cancellation in the coming weeks. But then, what is it really?
Audiences far from exceptional but a brand that remains strong
In an interview with TVLine, Amy Holden Jones answers bluntly that no decision has yet been made: “I don’t have any information [sur l’avenir de la série]. Losing such a cast seems completely crazy to me, but how these very “business” decisions are made remains a mystery to me”.
It seems quite likely that Fox will not decide before May – Upfronts period with our American friends – about the order, or not, of a seventh season of The Resident.
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The audiences of the series being in decline since season 4 (season 3 recorded an average of 6.7 million viewers, where season 5 totaled only 4.93 million on average over all its 23 episodes), the chain could quite decide to do without the doctors of the Chastain hospital. Because if The Resident can count on good catch-ups in replay, its audience scores are nothing exceptional.
Still, apart from 9-1-1 and animated series such as The Simpsons and The Griffins, the Fox channel does not have a lot of strong series. And The Resident has the merit of being a significant brand, which sells well internationally and which belongs to Disney, which owns Fox, since it is produced by 20th Television.
See you in the coming weeks to find out the fate of The Resident. But one thing is certain: the series with Matt Czuchry, Manish Dayal and Bruce Greenwood has never been in so much danger.
In France, season 4 is currently broadcast every Wednesday evening at 9:10 p.m. on TF1, while season 5 was already offered as the first French exclusive last fall on Warner TV.