Fans of The CW’s historical drama “Reign” may have to wait a little longer to see what happens to Mary, Queen of Scots, and her cousin Queen Elizabeth as the network did not schedule the Season 4 of the TV series to premiere this fall.
The show faced cancellation rumors before the Season 3 finale because of a drop in ratings and a shortened season.
The first two seasons received a full order of 22 episodes and the third one was lessened to 18. The CW greenlighted the series for another season last March.
Reports point to a possible 2017 release for the new episodes. As per Christian Times, it’s only reasonable for The CW to not schedule “Reign” for a fall premiere given that there are other shows that deliver good ratings such a “The 100” and “The Originals.”
Some reports claim that the decision to remove the show from the fall lineup is to keep competition down. Minus “iZombie” and other hit shows, the historical drama might do much better and ratings will hopefully improve with an early 2017 release.
Breathecast even notes that the fourth season might not even start airing until May 2017 to avoid competing with the highly successful “Game of Thrones” on HBO, but some reports debunk this rumor.
The cast and crew have started filming early last month for the fourth season and writers have taken to Twitter to confirm that Season 4 is definitely underway. However, an exact premiere date has not been set yet.
The fourth season of “Reign” will finally get a detailed account of Adelaide Kane’s Queen Mary’s second marriage. Last month, it was announced that Will Kemp will be joining the cast as Lord Darnley.
In historical accounts, Lord Darnley became Queen Mary’s second husband after King Francis. Their marriage lasted for a year as Darnley was murdered.
The Ecumenical News reports that “The Midnight Man” actor will debut on the show as a dancer. Bustle reports that since Lord Darnley and Queen Mary had a son in real life, who went on to become King James I, it might also tackle that storyline as well.
Kemp has been cast for three episodes with the option to appear in more episodes. He might possibly be introduced in the season premiere, but there are still no details how his character will affect the Queen of Scots especially now that she’s still with Gideon.
Apart from Kemp, the show will possibly introduce Mary’s third husband, James Hepburn although there has been no news yet of who will play the part.
Historical accounts show that Hepburn was the last husband of Queen Mary before her death and that Hepburn was highly rumored to have a role in Lord Darnley’s death.
The fourth season is also bound to introduce more characters. Steve Lund is set to play Gabriel, Narcisse’s rogue son. Henry, the brother of Stephen McPherson’s Charles and Toby Regbo’s Francis is set to be introduced in the upcoming season too.
The character will re-cast an older actor to portray the role like what they did to Charles’ character last season.
As for Torrance Coombs who plays Bash, the actor has exited the series by its third season.
The actor is now busy working on a new project, “Star-Crossed,” under ABC but there are reports that the producers of “Reign” has left the door open for Bash to come back for a cameo role in the future.
Celina Sinden and Anna Popplewell, who played Mary’s ladies-in-waiting Greer and Lola, also exited the series after three seasons. Jonathan Keltz, who portrayed Leith Bayard also exited the series during the Season 3 finale.
All in all, the show lost five main characters during the past season with Regbo’s character meeting his demise by the third episode.