Fans of the American supernatural police drama TV series “Sleepy Hollow” would be delighted to know that despite their frustration over the death of Abbie Mills, played by Nicole Beharie, during the Season 3 finale, Fox has already renewed the show for a fourth season.
The decision of the network gives fans of the show a collective sigh of relief although most of them are still finding a new reason to keep watching the TV series now that Abbie Mills is gone for good.
The renewal also came off as a surprise since the TV series has suffered a huge 32% decline in its viewership ratings during its third season vis-à-vis its Season 2 numbers, notes Premiere Date.
The big challenge for “Sleepy Hollow” would be how to pick up the slack in viewership ratings now that fan-favorite Abbie Mills is gone. While Ichabod Crane, played by Tom Mison, has a solid fan base of his own, losing half of ‘Ichabbie’ would certainly have a telling impact on the show’s fourth season, note critics.
The Season 3 premiere episode of “Sleepy Hollow” recorded 3.46 million viewers while its 18th and final episode only had 2.96 million viewers.
Apparently, the decision of Fox to renew the TV series for a fourth season has something to do with the fact that “Sleepy Hollow” is doing well with its international sales, which means that the show is widely patronized in many parts of the world outside of the US, notes Release Date.
Fox has yet to announce the release date for Season 4 but it will most likely happen during the fall of this year.
The twist that rock the fandom of ‘Sleepy Hollow’
“Sleepy Hollow” killed off its lead female character Abbie Mills in a shocking twist during the finale episode of Season 3 entitled “Ragnarok” that shook the fandom of the TV series.
Abbie and main protagonist Ichabod Crane battled against Pandora, played by Shannyn Sossamon, and The Hidden One, played by Peter Mensah.
Abbie joined Ichabod and Jenny Mills, played by Lyndie Greenwood, in confronting The Hidden One. Ichabod returns the Pandora’s box to Pandora who uses it to absorb the power of The Hidden One, but it proved unsuccessful as it requires the soul of a witness.
That’s when Abbie decided to sacrifice herself leaving Ichabod and Jenny in great despair. But The Hidden One loses his power and Jenny eventually shoots him in the head. Ichabod summons the Headless Horseman from the box and during the battle he deals a critical injury to Pandora, who died shortly thereafter.
But before Pandora died, she confirmed that there was no way to bring Abbie back to life.
Contingent staffing
Despite the not-so-good ratings during Season 3, “Sleepy Hollow” has a solid fan base, registered DVR gains, and is a famous underlying property which enabled it to make money for the network internationally. These are the main reasons why Fox reportedly renewed the show for a fourth season.
The studio is said to be doing contingent staffing moves in preparation for Season 4 of “Sleepy Hollow.
It was last March during the WonderCon when “Sleepy Hollow” writer and executive producer Clifton Campbell hinted that the show shall be renewed for a Season 4.
Campbell said back then that they are leaving the finale storyline open in the hopes that the show gets renewed for a fourth season.
The showrunner also explained that the only way to do a finale that has actual closure is if the studio and the network tell them that the show is over. He added that they are all very hopeful that it is not going to happen on “Sleepy Hollow” so they all planned on moving forward.