ABC Family, soon to be Freeform, has renewed The Fosters for a fourth season, The Hollywood Reporter reports. The Fosters, which has been a consistently strong ratings performer at ABC Family, will return later in 2016, after the network will have made its transition into its hip new identity as Freeform.
The Fosters stars Teri Polo and Sherri Saum as lesbian moms of an ever-growing family of biological, adopted, and foster children. Maia Mitchell, David Lambert, Cierra Ramirez, and Hayden Byerly also star as the teens who are always making terrible decisions (so, just your average teens). Earlier this year, the family drama received a Television Critics Association Award for Outstanding Achievement in Youth Programming. The show also received the GLAAD Media Award for outstanding drama series, and executive producer Jennifer Lopez was honored with the GLAAD Vanguard Award for her work on the show.
“We have so many more stories to tell about The Fosters family—these incredible characters have come into our lives and touched so many—from Stef and Lena’s wedding to the adoptions of Callie and Jude,” said Karey Burke, ABC Family Executive VP of Programming and Development. “We look forward to more of the groundbreaking storytelling from this creative team.”
Hopefully the additional stories the writers want to tell include reconciliation between Stef (Polo) and Lena (Saum), whose marriage problems really started hijacking the first half of season three, which aired this summer. One thing’s for sure: Another season probably means a lot more of Brandon/Callie drama is coming. Who knows—maybe by the time it returns, there will be another new Jesus in the house.
The Fosters’s third season will resume in January 2016.